unexpected
by redfishy
Summary: it all starts after harry sees snape kill dumbledore. then harry learns the truth. the two of them spend hours together, anything could happen... sorry the summary isn't that great. PLEASE REVIEW.
1. Chapter 1

This story picks up after Snape killed Dumbledore, which Malfoy had originally planned to do. Harry had witnessed the whole thing. However, in this story, Belatrix and Greyback were never in the astronomy tower with them.

**Chapter 1**

**Wanting Revenge**

As Harry ran after Snape, completely out of breath and beside himself for the loss of Dumbledore, he had a fury inside him he didn't even feel toward Voldemort. It was a rage that he had never even come close to feeling in his entire life. His blood was boiling, the thought of Snape killing Dumbledore made Harry sick to his stomach.

'How could he do that to Dumbledore? He trusted him, and he repays him by taking his life.' Harry thought to himself.

Harry chased Snape and Malfoy out of the astronomy tower and into the halls of Hogwarts Castle. The halls were full with Death Eaters, students, and teachers. The students and teachers were all trying to fend off the Death Eaters best they could. Harry had to dodge and counter many spells and curses as he trailed after Snape. He followed them outside where Snape was already speeding across the grounds to get away from the boy who witnessed his horrible task.

"Come back here and fight me like a man you bastard!" Harry yelled as he tried to catch up to Snape.

Malfoy was well ahead of Snape as they tried to lengthen the distance between them and Harry. He tried to throw any spell in their direction that he could think of, some of which didn't even make sense or fit the situation. He tried expeliarmis, levicorpus, confundus, reducto, and many others, but all of them were blocked or countered by Snape as soon as the spell left Harry's lips.

"Even after everything we have been through Potter, you still can't block out the thoughts in your head. Concentrate boy. It will do you some good to focus your anger on something a bit more productive than trying to curse me." Snape had said, but said it only loud enough that only Harry could hear because Malfoy was long gone at this point.

'Shit, after all that Occlumency training I still can't get the hang of it. I have to focus and get that piece of shit for what he did to Dumbledore.' Harry thought.

Harry stumbled over his feet trying to catch up to Snape and tumbled over, knocking off his glasses in the process. By the time he found them and put them back on, Snape was nowhere to be seen. Before he could get to his feet, Snape was right behind him. He was so close to Harry that he could feel the heat off Snape's body, he could smell the sweat that was dripping of the end of Snape's nose. He could feel Snape's heart beating as fast as his own due to the chase. Harry too horrified and completely frozen felt Snape's breath on the back of his neck. It sent chills to his very core and every hair on his body was standing on end.

"Just listen to me Potter. Do not scream or do anything that comes into that predictable brain of yours." Snape said these things in no more than a whisper in that cool, calm voice that Snape was a master of. "And you had better either stop thinking or learn to block out your thoughts so I can tell you what you need to know."

Harry was completely shocked. He didn't know what to do. Should he actually sit here and listen to Snape or should he try to curse him and get away? "Potter, if you curse me I swear you will not make it through this whole deal. And I am the only person who will be able to help you defeat the Dark Lord."

'What?' Harry thought, 'This man just killed Dumbledore and he's trying to convince me that he wants to help me beat Voldemort.'

"I told you Potter to stop thinking or block those thoughts of yours." Snape's voice was as calm and cool as it had ever been." Just listen because I don't have all much time, I am not your enemy Potter. I am quite the opposite and you will just have to except that. Over these years, I have played the part of Harry Potter hater quite well. I have positioned myself so that I can watch what is happening on both sides of this war very closely. Now, you can believe what you want but I am on your side."

"But you killed Dumbledore. He is now dead because of you, and you expect me to believe that you are on my side? How stupid do you think I am?" Harry interrupted, barely even able to make it more that a whisper even though he felt like he was screaming it at the top of his lungs. He was so exhausted from running and horrified that Snape was still standing so close behind him that he couldn't put the force behind his words that was intended.

Snape sighed and then continued with what he was trying to tell Harry. "In time, you will learn why it is that I performed the Killing Curse on Professor Dumbledore. However, I have not the time to explain that now. You need to listen to me very carefully, and for once in your life try to actually retain what I am saying to you in your pretty little head."

Harry didn't quite know why but for some reason he actually believed that Snape was telling the truth. The tone in his voice wasn't threatening in any way. For the first time since Harry could even remember he felt calm and relaxed, and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why. He should be furious at the moment, but he decided to actually listen to what Snape had to say.

"OK," Harry said, "I'm listening."

"Good. Now, as you have wasted so much of my time already I need you to meet me later. Do you think you can do that?" Snape was now standing more beside Harry than behind him now. And with each word that was spoken he held an unbroken connection between his dark eyes and the bright green orbs of Harry.

"Yes," Harry had let the words slip out of his mouth so fast that he didn't even think of his response before he said it. But the gaze that Snape was giving him at the moment didn't leave Harry capable of thinking much at the moment. That stare was intense.

"Very well, I need you to go retrieve your old cloak from the astronomy tower, no one can see you, and I mean no one. Meet me at the Hogwarts train station in two hours. And remember to make sure nobody sees you there. If you get there before I do just stay under your cloak and wait. I have to make sure I get Mr. Malfoy home safely to his mother. I will tell you about everything when we get to a safe place. Now I have to be going. And do try to not get sidetracked with anything along the way." And with that Snape stood up to his full height, glared down at Harry, then spun in a swirl of robes, and strode out of sight with the black billowing behind him.

It was a bit harder for Harry to get back up to the astronomy tower unseen than he thought it would be. The battle in the school was now over and the Death Eaters had all gone or been killed. With so many people in the halls trying to help each other from the battle, Harry had to make his way up to the tower the long way around.

Once he had retrieved his cloak, he took one last glance where Dumbledore stood before he met his demise. Harry walked to the small balcony overlooking the courtyard where Dumbledore's body had fallen. Everyone was spilling out into the courtyard surrounding the body of their beloved head master. Harry spotted Ron and Hermione so at least he knew they were all right. He wanted to go to them and comfort them, but at least they had each other. Harry felt guilty that he wasn't going out there to be with all of his friends, to let them know what had happened to Dumbledore.

'What will Ron and Hermione think?' Harry thought. But he couldn't worry about that right now. He had to get to the train station and meet Snape. 'Wow, I never thought I would be running off and not telling my friends anything about where I'm going to meet Snape.' Harry couldn't help but think that whatever it was Snape needed to tell him, it had better be good.

Harry had made it to the station before his two hours were up and Snape was nowhere in sight. The station was completely empty. It was fairly dark except for a few lanterns that hung from a post here and there. Harry paced around for a while. Eventually he was tired, and sat down on a bench. After a few moments, he thought better of it. What if someone besides Snape came in and found him? He couldn't risk that and found himself a corner and sat down with his back to the wall, and with his cloak still draped over him. As Harry's head swam with the events of the evening, what had happened and what will possibly be. He sat his head down on his arms that were crossed over his knees and drifted off to sleep.

**Chapter 2**

**The Truth**

"Potter. Potter, wake up." It was Snape standing over him. It took Harry a few moments to focus onto Snape's figure. Harry suddenly realized that he was no longer in the train station. He was lying on a bed, quite comfortable. But what was he doing here? Where was here? And how did he get here?

There was no need to ask Snape these questions because Snape was already reading the thoughts that were running through Harry's mind.

With no hesitation, Snape was answering Harry's unspoken questions. "You are here because it is my duty and pleasure to make sure that you are safe. I am your protector so to speak. And for your protection I regret to say that I cannot tell you where here is. And as to how you got here, I brought you. I found you sleeping under your cloak in a corner at the station. I had originally planned on giving you a sleeping draught so that I could bring you here without you knowing where here is, but since you were so sound asleep you just made it that much easier on me. Besides you looked so sweet and innocent sleeping that way that I just couldn't wake you."

"Wait, what?" Harry said, still a little tired. But then everything that Snape had said sunk in. "Never mind, I got it. Are you going to tell what the hell is going on?"

"As I have already told you, I am your protector. Dumbledore entrusted me with you on the very first day you stepped into Hogwarts with what now seems like a lifetime ago. So much has happened since then," Snape trailed off and then got back to what he was saying, "As much as I hated for you to see Dumbledore be defeated the way you did, I am truly sorry. You see, Dumbledore had explained to me that he had a suspicion that the Dark Lord would get Mr. Malfoy, Draco that is, to try and kill him to get him out of the way. Dumbledore was the only wizard the Dark Lord had ever been afraid of. He told me that if that time ever came, that he would rather die by the wand of someone that was his ally other than a confused teenager just following orders from the Dark Lord." Snape paused for a moment to let Harry take in what he had just said, when Harry's eyes met his and he knew that he understood, he continued.

"And until this whole mess is over I am supposed to do whatever I can to protect Draco as well. But that, I did not volunteer for as I have you. Before the start of term I was approached by Narcissa and Belatrix," at the sound of that name Harry looked up with tears starting to swell in his eyes, he had wanted to forget that she ever existed. But how could he when she was the reason his beloved Godfather, Serius, was dead. Snape saw the look on Harry's face but continued with his explanation. "They were worried about Draco and wanted to make sure that he was kept safe. Narcissa begged and pleaded with me to try to reason with the Dark Lord that Draco was just a boy and shouldn't have to do the things that were expected of him. I told her that there was no reasoning with the Dark Lord, that Draco had already made his decision to become a Death Eater and there was nothing I could do to change that. It was then that Belatrix asked me to take the unbreakable vow to protect Draco. I had no choice but to agree. Belatrix would have gone straight to the Dark Lord and implanted thoughts in his head that I wasn't on his side, that I was a traitor."

"But you're not, right?" Harry interrupted. Partially to get Snape's reaction and partially to let all the information he was getting sink in. He was starting to get exhausted just listening to all of this.

Snape realizing why Harry had stalled him from continuing, got up and left the room. Harry was wondering why he had left, but before he could question it very long, Snape had returned with a bottle of brandy and a couple of glasses. "You look like you could use a drink, would you like some?" Harry was stunned that Snape was asking him if he wanted alcohol, but with the events that had recently occurred, Harry nodded his head. With that, Snape poured them both a glass of the brandy and handed one to Harry. He sipped at the contents in the glass. A little cough escaped his throat, which was now warm with the liquid sliding down it.

"Easy Harry." Snape had said and Harry was completely stunned.

"You just called me Harry. You have never called me by anything other than Potter. Are you ok?"

"I am perfectly fine. Remember that I told you I played my part very well that I despised you. I have almost let it slip before but I managed to bite my tongue and call you Potter in a voice of loathing. And do forgive me if I ever do it again, because old habits die hard you know. Now where was I, yes, as to prevent Belatrix from going to the Dark Lord and telling him I was in league with Dumbledore I had to agree to the unbreakable vow. I agreed to protect him to the best of my ability. As I am also doing with you, but with you I am doing that completely on my own, without any vow making me do so. I will protect you of my own free will because I want to."

Snape took another sip of brandy and continued with telling Harry everything he needed to know. "I also have to let you know that the Dark Lord thinks that I am out looking for you. He believes that I want to please him, and what better way to do that than find you and turn you over to him? So from time to time I will have to check in with him and tell him what I have discovered about your whereabouts. I should never be gone for more than a few hours at a time so there shouldn't be any reason for you to ever worry."

"And now, there is one last thing, under no circumstances whatsoever, can you use magic. At least not until your birthday. Until you become of age the ministry will monitor all of your magic use. But, on the plus side, as soon as you turn seventeen, you can use all the magic you want."

"I know that all of this must come as a complete surprise and I know that it is a lot to take in. I am at your command Mr. Potter, sorry, Harry. As long as it doesn't interfere with your safety I am from this moment your servant or slave, for the lack of a better term."

And with that Snape raised his glass of brandy as if to silently toast Harry his allegiance and drained its contents of what was left.

**Chapter 3**

**Questions**

Harry sat there for what seemed like ages and just thought. He thought about Dumbledore, Ron and Hermione, Voldemort, and most of all Snape of all people. If someone would have told him a week ago that Snape would be at his beckon call, he would have looked at him or her and told them they needed to go to St. Mungo's because there was something wrong with their head.

While Harry sat there and let his head swim from this to that, Snape was making the bed that Harry was asleep in earlier, folding robes and muggle clothes for Harry to wear, and other such things as to make sure Harry felt comfortable.

After about an hour or so, Harry decided that he might have some questions to ask Snape. When he looked up to where Snape was putting some of the clothes he folded into the dresser it's as if Snape could feel Harry's eyes on him. He turned around, went to a chair, sat down, crossed his legs and just stared at Harry.

"What is it you would like to ask me Harry?" Snape said as he poured him and Harry another glass of brandy.

"Well, I don't know where to start. I mean this is all so weird. All this time I thought you hated me, and turns out it's the complete opposite. I mean, you want to protect me but you have to protect Malfoy, how are you going to do both without them finding out about you protecting me? What about all my friends? Does anyone know where I am? Do they think I'm dead, or disappeared? They probably think Voldemort has me. Can we let them know I'm alright?"

"Slow down Harry, I can only answer one question at a time. First of all, protecting you will always be my top priority. And as for Mr. Malfoy, I have found a way around protecting him. I agreed to protect him to the best of my ability. If I however am not around and do not know what kind of trouble he is getting into, I don't have to do anything. That is why I was willing to make the unbreakable vow. I had already had this place waiting for you and me to hide out in and knew that even if I made that vow it would not change the course of actions that I was planning on taking. As for your friends, I do not know what they think happened to you. I don't believe that anyone knows where you are or if you are even still alive. But for right now you will have to except that. In time, everyone will know that you are still alive. But for now, we have to keep you in hiding. So, to answer your last question, we cannot let anyone know where you are."

"What if I order you to tell them, like you said you are my slave?"

"Yes," Snape said, "but I also said as long as it didn't interfere with your safety, and that would surely put you in danger. If your friends know where you were, the Dark Lord would surely capture them and torture them. Regardless of if they knew anything or not, he would then kill them. And I know that you don't want that to happen. And neither do I. It is very late, you should get some rest, and I will be here with you as long as you want me to be. As soon as you fall asleep I will then retire to my room."

"Ok. But you don't have to go, I mean, I'm not going to make you stay. Shit. Sorry. What I'm trying to say is you don't have to leave if you don't want to. It won't make me uncomfortable or anything if you decide to stay. I never thought I would say this but I would feel safer if you were here. All of this is a lot to take in and I just don't think that I want to be alone right now."

"Very well." That's all that Snape said. And Harry then knew that with Snape knowing he felt safer with him there, Snape would stay there all night. Harry drifted off to sleep while Snape sat there and watched him as his breathing steadied and Harry was fast asleep.

Not long after Harry fell asleep, Snape continued straightening up the room. He closed the drapes to make sure that when the sun rose it would not wake the young man's slumber. Harry must have been in a very deep sleep because as Snape was moving around the room he had bumped his foot quite hard on the bedside table. He cursed aloud before stopping himself to make sure he didn't disturb Harry. He didn't even move the slightest bit. Snape decided that he should sit down in the chair next to the bed and get some sleep himself. He gently took one of the pillows off Harry's bed so that he could place it under his head in the chair. As he slowly and quietly started walking toward the chair, he heard Harry roll over. When he looked to make sure he was ok, Harry's eyes were staring at him.

"Is everything alright?" Snape asked with a soothing tone that Harry had never heard before.

"Mm-hmm, I'm good. What are you doing?" Harry said in a slightly drowsy haze.

"I was just going to sit here and try to get some sleep myself. It's been a very long day."

"Oh shit." Harry said. "I'm sorry, I didn't think about where you would sleep in here. It's ok with me if you go to your own room. I don't want you to be uncomfortable. And that chair looks like it would be just that."

Harry thought for a minute, and as Snape started to walk toward the door, he was stopped. Harry couldn't believe he was about to say this but he did feel safer knowing that Snape was right there.

"Wait, you could sleep here. I mean it's a big bed, and I wish you would just stay."

"You don't have to wish Harry, I'm not a genie. I'm a wizard." And with that, they both laughed. It felt good to laugh. And Harry had never even seen Snape with a smile let alone laughing. Snape was actually a good-looking man when he wasn't wearing that look of disgust on his face all the time. And Harry couldn't help but notice just that.

'What am I thinking?' Harry thought. 'This is still Snape, even though he is really kind and gentle and protecting me, it's still Snape.'

"Snape?"

"Yeah Harry."

"Are you going to stay?"

"As long as you want me to stay, I will be here. But I think I would rather have the chair. I don't want you to be uncomfortable in any way whatsoever."

"I wouldn't be." For some reason Harry's head was swimming with thoughts of what it would be like to share a bed with Snape, to lie next to him, close to him, to feel his skin next to his, to feel his warm body pressing against his, to feel his breath against him. 'What am I thinking, this is Snape.'

As all these thoughts were filling Harry's head Snape had moved around to the other side of the bed and sat down. Harry didn't even notice until he heard Snape speak.

"Are you sure this is ok with you?"

Harry didn't want to resend his offer, but he didn't know why he was thinking these things. He was becoming confused about what he was feeling.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course." Snape said as he turned his body around so that he could look at Harry.

Harry hung his head, not sure what it was exactly he wanted to ask. "And please don't use legilimacy on me right now, I don't think I have the strength to even try block it out."

"Alright." Snape just looked at Harry. He let him arrange his thoughts and waited for whatever it was Harry wanted to ask.

"Well I don't know how to ask this but..."

"It's ok Harry, take your time."

"Well," Harry continued, "can you tell me anything about…um… sex?"

Whatever Snape was expecting it definitely wasn't that. He didn't even know how to answer. But he tried to come up with an answer best he could.

"Well you see Harry, I haven't been in a relationship in quite some time and never with a..." Snape stopped mid-sentence. 'Never with a woman' he thought but decided that Harry didn't need to know about that little piece of information.

"Never with a what?" Harry asked looking somewhat confused that Snape stopped and stunned that he was actually trying to answer his question.

"That doesn't matter, but I do have to ask why you ask about sex of all things?"

"Well you see Professor, I was just wondering what it felt like to be that close to someone. I mean, actually I don't know what I mean. Just forget I asked."

Snape was also relieved at Harry's words but knew that he had to try to answer the boy's question. "It's ok Harry." And with that Snape took a deep breath and continued. "You see, I'm the wrong person to ask about sex when it comes to girls because I am gay. I have never been intimate with a woman so I couldn't answer the questions YOU are asking. Do you understand?"

"That's just perfect!" Harry had said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to upset you."

"Upset, no, I'm not upset. I know it sounded that way but, well what I meant was, that um." Harry hesitated for a second," What I'm trying to say is that I was asking because you were about to lie down next to me and I started thinking a bunch of stuff and well now it turns out that if you answer my questions I will actually get the answers that I really wanted."

"You mean to tell me that you were thinking of me that way?"

"Well," Harry bowed his head and then slowly looked up at Snape quite embarrassed, "I guess I'm just confused."

"I am going to read your mind now Harry, if you want you can try to block it but this way I can figure out exactly what it is you want to know. And there is no need to be embarrassed, I was your age when I realized I was gay. I'm not saying that you are but I chose to explore what I was feeling. Others chose not to. Now let me see what I can get out of your head." And with that said Snape raised his wand and said "Legilimens." Snape was realizing how Harry had wondered what it would feel like to really be next to him.

"I could show you if you like." Snape said it so casually that Harry didn't know right away what he was talking about.

"You mean you want to have sex with me?" Harry asked quite shocked that Snape had even mentioned it.

"That's not what you were thinking. You were thinking about what it would feel like if our skins were touching each other, for you to feel my breath on the back of your neck. Were you not? And I could never have sex with someone I'm not in love with. And as fond of you as I am, love is not the word I would use. But I can lie down next to you to show you what it feels like. That would not entirely be against my rules."

"Ok, I guess we could do that." Harry said right before he slowly took off his shirt and lay down on the bed. Snape also removed his long black robe and placed his body right next to Harry's.

All Harry could think of now was how warm he felt. Harry then hesitantly reached for Snape's wrist, which was lying on his own waist. Snape knew what Harry wanted his arm for and helped him by draping his arm over Harry's torso. He then pulled Snape's arm in closer to him. Feeling his warm breath on the back of his neck, his arm wrapped around him, his chest completely covering Harry's back. Oddly enough, Harry had never felt more comfortable in his life.

Once again, Harry pulled Snape's arm closer to him, pulled his hand up to his lips, and gently kissed the back of his Potion masters hand. "Thank you Professor, Good night." And Harry once again drifted off to sleep.

**Chapter 4**

**Playing a Game**

When Harry woke the next morning, he couldn't help but remember the way he had fallen asleep. So comfortable, feeling so safe, embraced. When he rolled over, he realized that Snape was no longer next to him. At first, he wanted to panic. "Professor?" After a few moments and there was no answer he called out even louder. "Professor Snape? Where are you? SNAPE?" And just a few seconds later Snape entered the room.

"I'm so sorry Harry. I just thought that you might be hungry so I went to get you some breakfast." Harry hadn't even thought about food until now. He didn't realize how hungry he was until Snape had carried in a tray, full of eggs and bacon and toast. Next to it stood a cold glass of apple juice. Harry thanked Snape and was done eating his breakfast in less than three minutes.

"Thank you professor." Harry said, wiping off his mouth.

"You're welcome, and Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't have to call me Professor, not anymore."

"What should I call you then?"

"You may call me Severus, given that is my name."

"Of course prof.. I mean Severus. That feels weird. I will get used to I'm sure but it might take some time."

"That's alright, I'm surprised that I haven't called you Potter again. Well you should get cleaned up. The showers are down the hall, second door on the left. And while you are doing that, I will make the bed and clean those clothes you are wearing."

Harry then got out of bed, walked toward the door and headed down the hallway to the bathroom. As Harry was standing in the shower letting the hot water run over his body he couldn't help but think about the events before he fell asleep. Snape's body, well Severus' body next to his, the warmth, the breath tickling the back of his neck, it was too much to think about right now. Suddenly Harry realized that it really was too much to think about, because he was becoming aroused just by the thought of Severus being so close to him while he slept. And then Harry tried to remember what his chest and body had looked like. And then Harry remembered that his back was to Severus, he didn't see it. He tried to hurry up and finish his shower, but it took longer than expected considering that he wasn't planning on masturbating, but he couldn't go out there with a hard on now could he? After he got out and wrapped the towel around him, he realized that the clothes he wore into the bathroom were gone and clean ones were waiting there for him.

'Oh, god, 'he thought. 'I didn't even notice he came in here. I hope he didn't hear me...shit.'

Harry strode out of the bathroom feeling better in more ways than one, hoping that Severus didn't notice him getting himself off. As Harry walked into his bedroom, Severus was sitting there waiting for him.

"Feeling better?" he said, already cradling a glass of brandy in one hand and a book in the other. Severus sat the book down and looked up at Harry waiting for a response.

"Er, yeah. I guess so. Did you hear me, I mean um, when did you bring in my clothes?"

"I am a wizard Harry. I never entered the bathroom, I do respect your privacy. As I have already said, I want you to be comfortable. I don't think you would like me just barging into the bathroom while you're in the shower."

'After the way I felt last night I wouldn't care, I might be able to see more of what's hidden under all of those robes.' Just then, Harry realized that he was eyeing Snape and quickly diverted his gaze.

"Yeah I guess not."Harry said as he wondered what might happen if Severus did walk in on him."But it wouldn't make me uncomfortable, I mean after last night I wouldn't mind. I was just so comfortable with you next to me that I don't think anything could change that." Harry then gave Severus a shy smile and went to sit down.

"What would you like to do today Harry? Just remember that at some point we are going to have to start training you for the fall of the Dark Lord." Severus said as he finished his glass of brandy and poured another. Then he made a gesture as to ask Harry if he wanted some brandy also.

"Sure." Harry said as he walked over to retrieve the glass from Severus. "What is there to do here?"

"Unfortunately Harry, we cannot go outside. I have been able to place just this building under wards as to make it undetectable. I tried to do the same to the surrounding grounds but I couldn't come up with the right charms to use. I wish it was different but your safety is by far the most important. You do understand, don't you?"

"Of course I do." Harry had assured Severus. "How about we play a game?"

"What kind of game?"

"How about a game of truth or dare?"

Severus gave Harry a questioning look but before he could ask what that was Harry was explaining the game to him.

"It's a muggle game when one person asks the other Truth? or Dare? If you say truth then I will have to ask you a question and you have to answer the question truthfully no matter what. And before you say anything, I know that you can only answer something that won't jeopardize my safety. But the questions that are asked have to be personal. And if you say dare, then I have to dare you to do something and you have to do it. If you don't do the dare or don't answer the question then I win that round. Then you go and I have to do a truth or a dare. Got it? What do you think?"

"Sounds a bit different and I've never been much of a game person but if it's what you want to do then I'll give it a try."

"Great."Harry said, and with a hungry look in his eye looked at Severus and asked, "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth, I guess."

"Hmmm, let's see, How did you know you were gay?"

"I was about seventeen, I had been attracted to one of the other boys in my dorm. I ended up sending him notes from a secret admirer, in which I pour my thoughts and ideas out onto paper. I actually thought that it was just because I was being a curious boy and the feelings I was having were natural. After a while, I started hinting to him who I was, thinking that maybe I could get him to be 'curious' with me. When he finally did find out that it was me who were sending the letters, come to think of it I don't know why I liked him in the first place, he was as dimwitted as they come. It took me damn near spelling my name out to realize it was me. But, when he did find out it was me that wanted him, he called me a freak, told me that even if I were the last person on this bloody earth that he would not be with me. So I started actually dating girls, they were very pretty, but I could not make myself feel what I didn't want to. There was never an attraction to any of them. So from then on, I have realized that I am gay."

After pausing for a moment Severus looked up at Harry and asked, "Was that good for the Truth? part to this game. Did I answer right?"

Harry looked at Severus and said, "I didn't think you were going to say all that but, yeah, I think you have it down."

"Now I'm supposed to ask you Truth or Dare, right?"

"Yep." Harry said."That's right."

"Ok do you want Truth? or Dare?"

"I think I'm going to go with a Truth as well."

Severus thought for a few moments and asked, "What is your favorite color?"

"Huh? That's not a good personal question. The questions are supposed to reveal something about the other person that you would never know unless asked." Harry told Severus as he giggled a little at how simple that question was.

"But I wouldn't know your favorite color unless I asked."

"I know, it's the Gryffindor colors by the way, and you need to ask something juicy. Something that I might even have trouble telling my friends if they asked. It has to be REALLY personal?"

"Harry, I don't know if I want to play this game. I would never want to invade your privacy or any deep dark secrets without you wanting to tell me." Severus looked at the young man sitting across from him and hoped that he would no longer want to play this game. He didn't feel comfortable trying to get intimate and personal information from Harry through a silly game.

"It's alright," Harry said, "I just wanted to see what kind of stuff you would come up with. I figured with as clever as you are you could come up with some really good questions and some really good dares."

With that Harry took another sip of the brandy, it still burned a bit going down but he was starting to get used to it. Severus just sat there and looked at him. Wondering how on earth was he going to occupy a sixteen year old boy for however long they would have to stay in this secret haven.

**Chapter 5**

**Thinking**

The next few days were interesting to Harry. He explored the house from top to bottom. He found seven bedrooms, three dens, a potions lab (of course), three bathrooms, a library and of course, there was the sitting room, dining room and kitchen. The house was three stories high, as far as Harry could tell. But without being able to see it from the outside, he could only guess.

Only two of the bedrooms had anything resembling a personal touch of decor. Severus' room was completely untouched. Probably because he spent his nights in Harry's room. Which Harry was ecstatic about since he felt much safer and obviously warmer when Severus' body was lying next to his.

Harry has started having some very visual and sexual dreams about Severus. He was confused, and he didn't know what to do about it. Severus had told Harry that he would only have sex with someone if he were in love with them. And Harry was sure that Severus was not in love with him. But maybe, someday things just might change.

"Hey Sev," Harry said one morning as he was eating his breakfast, "I was thinking..."

"That could be dangerous, Harry." Severus said as he chuckled.

"Yeah I know, me thinking, who would have thunk." he laughed and then continued, "I was wondering if we could charm the ceiling to mimic the sky outside, like they have at Hogwarts."

Severus looked into those green hopeful eyes of the boy and thought about it for a moment. "Well, Harry, in order to do that there are a number of different charms and spells that are used."

As Harry hung his head re said, "It's okay, I get it. It's too much work and there are probably other things more important to do."

"Even though there are a number of things that need to be done, I do want you to be happy while we are here. What I was going to say was let you know that because of all that is involved it might take a while to complete it."

Harry was so excited that Severus was actually going to do it that he jumped out of his chair, ran over to where He was standing beside the counter, threw his arms around his neck and hugged him. "Thank you Sev, thank you so much. You don't know what this means to me."

Severus was shocked at the affection that Harry was showing him. He defiantly wasn't use to people hugging him. He gently rubbed Harry's back and told him in a voice that was a little too comforting for him to hear, "I would do anything to make you happy."

When those words reached Harry's ears, he knew that someday, somehow, he would make sure that Severus would fall in love with him. Because at those words, Harry was already starting to fall. And he had a feeling that he would fall hard. For Harry it wasn't just about feeling a warm body next to his, or those erotic and intense dreams he had been having, what he was feeling now was not lust. And with that, he knew that things were going to definitely be very, very different.

That night Harry asked, "Severus, would you mind if I slept in here alone tonight?"

Harry thought that he saw a hurt expression on Severus' face and before he could say anything Harry added, "It's not that I don't want you here, it's just, there are, um, a few things that I need to think about."

Severus gave Harry a slightly confused look, and realized that if Harry wanted him to know what he needed to think about, then he would tell him in time. For now he would just have to respect the boy's privacy.

"I will retire to my room than and leave you to your thoughts. But if you need me, for anything, do not hesitate to come get me." Severus assured him.

Severus turned to leave and thought that there was one question he needed Harry to answer."What it is that you need to think about, is it anything that will affect your safety? I at least need to know that."

"No, it's nothing like that, "Harry said, "I won't do anything idiotic, I promise."

This time Severus did leave. And the wheels in Harry's head began to turn as he thought of how he would make Severus his.

**Chapter 6**

**Apologies Accepted**

As Severus traveled the short space between his room and Harry's, he couldn't help but wonder why Harry didn't want him staying there tonight. 'Was there something I did to make him feel uncomfortable?' Severus thought to himself as he settled down in a chair in the corner of the unused room.

'I am horrible at being around good, decent people. I don't know how to interact with them. All of those years living as a devoted Death Eater for the Dark Lord and what have I gotten out of it? Nothing, absolutely nothing. That's the story of my life, I try to be nice to someone and all I know how to do is push them away. I am going to try my best to win Harry over. I will be the best friend he has ever had. I owe him that much after everything I have put him through. He deserves better than my company but I will do whatever it takes to make whatever it is that I can give, the best.'

Severus made a promise to himself at that moment, and he was going to make sure that it wasn't broken.

He started preparing for the long night that was ahead of him. He didn't care if it took all night, he was going to make sure that Harry got his mimicked ceiling, so that Harry could look up and see the sun, clouds, moon, and stars.

Severus decided to magic the ceiling in the library, sine that is where Harry would have to spend most of his time once he resumed Occlumency.

Once Severus was sure that Harry was asleep, he went to the library to get things under way. He put a silencing charm on the library to make sure he didn't disturb Harry during his slumber. He then proceeded to levitate the furniture out of his way so he could carefully place the right spells and charms in the precise areas they needed to be.

It took Severus several hours and a few mistakes, but he eventually got everything accomplished. He decided to give Harry a little more than he had asked for and added some floating candles here and there to make it feel a little more like Hogwarts. Severus knew that Harry had always considered the castle his home, and hopefully this would make him feel at least a little more at home here.

Severus was so happy with what he had accomplished that he then thought of some more surprises that he could do for Harry.

Severus went back to his room to clean up a bit before Harry woke up. Once he had washed up and changed his robes, Severus realized that it was already 7 am. Instead of trying to get some sleep, he headed downstairs to make Harry the best breakfast he had ever had.

Once he was in the kitchen, he started getting out the ingredients for his elaborate morning feast. Eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and perhaps he would make some waffles also. Once he had everything he needed he went to work. He set a charmed knife to peeling and dicing the potatoes, put a skillet on the stove to start the sausage and bacon, heated up the waffle iron, and but the eggs in a bowl to wisk.

Even though Severus was a wizard, it took him almost an hour to complete his surprise for Harry. Once he was completely done with setting the table and placing all of the food around so that it could all easily be reached from any chair, he put a heating charm on the food so that wouldn't get cold while he went to wake the amazing boy who deserved much more than this.

'At least it's a start.' Severus thought to himself as he climbed the stairs leading to Harry's room. When he got there, he gently knocked on the door. He heard Harry say something that sounded like 'come in' so, Severus gently opened the door and went in.

"Hmm, what time is it?" Harry asked through his sleepy haze.

"It's time for you to get up Harry, I have a surprise for you."

Harry's mind had begun to race at those words. 'What kind of surprise could Sev have for me?' he wondered. 'I thought he was hurt last night when I asked him if I could sleep alone, even though he did a good job at hiding it. But I know I saw something there.'

"What kind of surprise?" Harry asked.

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you would it? Come on down stairs with me."

Harry got out of bed and followed Severus as he led. Before they got to the dining room, Harry could already smell the food.

"Something smells good." He said as he eyed Severus.

When he emerged into the dining room he saw all of the food laid out on the table, there was a bowl full of golden brown, crispy potatoes, a platter full of sausage and bacon, a huge stack of fluffy waffles and another bowl full of scrambled eggs. Harry couldn't believe how much mouth-watering food was on the table.

"This is my surprise? Sev, it's wonderful. I don't think I've ever seen a more appetizing meal. What did I do to deserve this? I thought that you were upset with me because of last night."

"Harry, I wasn't upset with you. I thought you were upset with me. I could never be mad at you. Ever. You actually deserve more than this. Much more." Severus then looked at Harry with an abundance of compassion in his gaze. He then asked, "Why don't we sit down and eat?"

They both sat down at the table across from one another, Harry started piling food onto a plate and began to eat. Severus didn't eat anywhere near as much as Harry had, but once Harry was done eating, he leaned back with a satisfied grin on his face.

"Did you get enough to eat?" Severus asked after a few moments of looking at Harry's display of contentment.

"Yeah. I couldn't eat another bite. You really out-did yourself Sev. That was great. If only we could eat like that every day."

"We could if you really wanted to." Severus reassured him.

"I wouldn't ask you to cook like that every day. It must have taken you ages to make all that food. But, what if we had this same breakfast once a week. Would that be okay?"

Severus couldn't say no. Harry had an innocence to him with the way he asked for things. But with the Dursley's always giving Harry the worst of anything, if anything at all, Severus understood why Harry was the way he was at times. "Sounds good to me Harry. I surprise myself sometimes as well."

Severus aloud Harry's food to settle for a bit before he would be ready to let Harry in on the second surprise of the morning. After about an hour of completing their meal Severus looked at the young man who was still sitting slumped in his chair from having gorged himself and asked, "Would you mind coming to the library with me Harry? There is a very interesting book that I found in there that I think you would like."

"Sure." Harry slowly got up from the table and made his way to the library while Severus followed.

Harry's hand reached out for the handle that opened the door to the library.

"Hold on." Sev said, and he was so excited for Harry to see that he had charmed the library ceiling that he was beaming at Harry. "Would you mind closing your eyes?"

"Alright." Harry said, thinking that it was a little strange for Sev to want him to close his eyes just to get a book. But, he played along. What would it hurt?

"Don't open your eyes until I say so. Okay?"

Severus took his hand and lead Harry carefully into the library, slowly sat him down in a chair in the middle of the room so that when Harry opened his eyes, he would see nothing but the bright blue sky and fluffy clouds above his head.

The whole time Severus was leading him into the room, Harry couldn't help but get a little excited of Severus holding his hand. He was grateful for the touch considering that since he had gotten here, last night was the first night he didn't share his bed with Sev.

Once Severus had looked around the room and made sure everything was in its perfect place he said, "Okay Harry, open your eyes."

When Harry lifted his eyelids, the sight he took in was breath taking. He was almost completely frozen from the beauty that surrounded him. And in his eyes, that included Severus. The sky was so clear that he would have swore that he was outside if he didn't know any better. And the candles that floated around the room were mesmerizing. At that moment, he knew that he was in love with Severus. This was the most amazing thing anyone had ever done for him. And he also knew that Somewhere deep down Severus had feelings for him too. He didn't know how strong those feelings were, but hopefully he would soon find out.

"I can't believe you did it. I thought you said it would take awhile."

"It did. After you asked to be in your room alone, even though I didn't know what it was, I thought that I had angered or hurt you or even disappointed you. So I stayed up all night doing this for you. Hoping that this would be enough of an apology for me to make right whatever is was I wronged."

"Sev, this is beautiful but, you didn't get any sleep?"

"No. By the time I had gotten done, it was already morning. So, I decided to make you that breakfast and make it a two part apology."

"Well there is really nothing to apologize for. I was never upset with you."

"Looks like I did all this for nothing then huh?" Severus said as a little smirk met his lips.

"Guess so." Harry looked at the older man standing in front of him, resisting every urge to kiss him right here and now. But, Harry thought better of it. He had to figure out a way to repay Severus for what he did. And once he figured that out, he would then confess his love for the tall man that he could no longer see himself living without.

He did however give Severus another hug. "Thank you so much, this is the best surprise I have ever gotten. You are amazing Severus Snape. And I am going to make sure you know that."

Severus was starting to get use to these hugs. There was something there that he had never felt before. It was intoxicating the way it made him feel. With Harry still hugging him tightly, Severus completely wrapped his arms around Harry's slender shoulders and embraced him. Severus knew what this must have been. Harry and he had a bond that he had never had with anyone else.

It was companionship.

**Chapter 7**

**Keeping up the Charade **

Harry had been thinking about nothing else than how to repay Severus. His mind was going in circles. How could he even attempt to even come close to what Sev had done for him. He knew that there was no way he could do anything until his birthday when he would become an adult in the wizarding world. Because until then if he even attempted to use magic he would be found since the ministry monitored all under-age wizardry. But until then he would think of something that he could do for the man that was now his everything.

One evening Severus approached Harry and told him that he needed to check in with the Dark Lord. "I will only be gone for a few hours. Is there anything you need before I go?"

"No, I don't think so. Is there any way you can stop and get me a few things while you are out?" Harry asked as he looked at Severus wishing that he didn't have to go but knowing there was no way out of it.

"I might be able to manage that."

"Could you get a copy of The Daily Prophet so I can at least know a little of what's going on out there. And maybe stop by a sweet shop and get me some Chocolate Frogs and maybe some Every Flavor Beans."

"Sure Harry. Are you sure that's all you want?"

"I think so. If I want anything after that I'll just make you go out and get it when you get back." Harry chuckled, and saw that Severus had just the slightest smile on his slender, pale, perfect face.

"Well, I have to get going. I'll get back as soon as I can. And Harry? Don't burn the house down while I'm gone." And with that, Severus gave Harry a reassuring look and left.

Harry had spent the entire time Severus was away in the library. He spent most of his time in the library now, it had become his favorite room since Severus had surprised him with the mimicked ceiling. There had actually been a few times that Harry had fallen asleep in the middle of the floor, gazing up at the stars.

Harry figured that this was the perfect time for him to do some research. His birthday was only a few weeks away and he wanted to know what he was going to do for Severus by then. Because as soon as he became of age, he was going to find a way into Severus' heart.

He looked over the shelves of books and came across one that he thought might be useful. 'The way to a wizard's heart'. Harry sat down and began to skim through the book. He read about stuff like giving flowers, cooking meals, going on dates to fancy restaurants and theatres. "None of this is going to help me win Sev over. He's not the kind of wizard that would be impressed with this stuff." Harry closed the book and put it back on the shelf. He needed to think outside of what your normal bloke would like. Then he thought to himself, 'What would I want if I were the great Severus Snape?'

Harry figured that the easiest way to figure this out was to ask a few questions from time to time about what the kinds of things he liked. Hobbies and stuff like that. Harry still looked through a few more books to see if he could find anything to help him but came up short-handed.

After a couple of hours, Harry laid down on the floor once again mesmerized by the stars.

Meanwhile, Severus entered the hideout that the Dark Lord had chosen. He went to the door of his 'Master's' room and knocked.

"You may enter." He heard a wispy voice say.

"My Lord." Severus said as he approached the throne of the Dark Lord. He knelt down and stayed there completely still until Voldemort told him to stand.

"So tell me Severus, Have you found the whereabouts of the boy?"

"Not yet master, whoever is hiding him is doing a very well job of it. No doubt that Albus had put this in motion before I took the old bat out of his mysery." Severus hated talking about Albut like this. He had always thought of him as a father of some sorts. Ever since he came to Hogwarts he had always looked up to the man. But Severus knew that he had to do what he could to convince the Dark Lord that he was searching for Harry.

"I'm sure he did, and have you questioned and tortured all of his friends?"

"I have my lord, they don't seem to know anything, and I brought these to show you." Severus handed Voldemort some pictures that he had conjured up of Ron and Hermione. He had taken the photos at the beginning of the year knowing that he might have to charm them to look as though they have been tortured and beaten. "Master, as you can see I worked them over best I could, if they would have known anything they would have told me I'm sure of it."

Voldemort looked at the photos. Hermione was wincing and crying hysterically, She had bruises all over her face and some blood ran down from a gash above her eyebrow. Her lips were also split open in more than one place as she was repeatedly hit. Ron's picture was much worse. He had gashes and cuts all over him, they were on his arms, legs, chest, back and face. He was hanging from the middle of a small dark room, and every time the whip came cracking down, it found a fresh, untouched piece of flesh. He spun in circles as the whip never ceased.

When the Dark Lord was done studying the photos, he gave Severus an approving nod. "And did you kill them afterward?"

"I'm sorry to say I did not, even though I would have had great pleasure in doing so. However, I decided against it, if the boy will try to contact anyone, I'm sure it will be those two. I will keep an eye on them as well to make sure I know if he does try to go to them."

"Yes, I see, how clever of you. Only you Severus, can please me and disappoint me all at the same time." Those red eyes glared at Severus as he said this.

Severus wished he could end Voldemort's life right here at this very moment, but he knew that he could never be powerful enough to do so. But luckily he had Harry.

"I apologize my lord." Severus said, bowing to his 'master' once again. "If you see fit I will take what punishment you bestow upon me."

"This is your lucky day Severus, for I will only cast the Cruciatus curse this time."

"I am grateful to you my lord."

Then Voldemort raised his want and uddered the word, "Crucio."

Severus fell to the ground, screaming and writhing in agony, his body contorted in ways that should be impossible without his bones completely breaking in two.

When the pain finally ceased, Severus resumed his kneeling position. "I know my apologies will never be enough, I aim to please you my lord."

"Yesss, I know. You would never defy me, because if you did, you know you would surely die."

"Yes my lord. I feel that it would be best for me to go. The sooner I get back on the trail of the boy, the sooner I hope to be able to turn him over to you to do with as you wish." Severus said hoping that the Dark Lord would let him leave.

"I think you are right, I suspect to see you again soon, hopefully with the boy in hand, but if not, then to give me an update to your search."

"Of course my lord." Severus turned around and strode out of the room, glad to be gone.

As soon as Severus had left the presence of Voldemort, all he wanted to do was go back to Harry and make sure that he was okay. Then he remembered the items Harry requested and not wanting to disappoint him, went and got them.

When Severus had returned from his 'check in,' Harry was starting to doze off. But as soon as he heard the door to the library open he jerked himself awake and stood up to greet Severus.

"How did it go?"

"Precisely the way I expected it to. I told the Dark Lord that I thought I hadn't found you yet but doing everything I could to try and please him. I apologized numerous times on how I had failed him. He assured me that he 'knew' I wouldn't be incompetent enough to defy him. And then I told him that I must go cause time was of the essence, then I groveled, bowed to him and left." Severus lied to Harry. He didn't want to but he didn't need to know the horrid things that the Dark Lord had done while he was there. "I then went to get you your sweets and newspaper."

Harry had almost forgotten about asking Severus to pick those things up for him. It was really just an excuse for Sev to be gone longer so he could research. A lot of good that did him. But he was happy that he now had the newspaper so he could have a bit of a connection with the outside world.

Harry took the paper, along with a Chocolate Frog or two and sat down to read. He wasn't entirely shocked when he read the front page Headline, 'Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, and Severus Snape, Potions Professor at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Still Missing'. As Harry read the article it talked about how they had every Auror the ministry could spare searching for them. How it was suspected that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was more than likely the mastermind of their disappearance. They had been missing for the better part of three weeks (had it really been that long already) and that they were not giving up hope. They had interviewed a number of Hogwarts teachers along with students to try and find out any information they could. They had even quoted an anonymous student, it read: "I'm sure Harry is okay, where ever he is. I believe that because if You-Know-Who had killed him, I'm sure we would have heard something by now. As for the professor, he has always been resourceful and I'm certain he is alive too."

Harry thought about that quote for a moment. It had to be Hermione, she was always clever in the way she worded things, and it sounded just like something she would say. After Harry finished the article he skimmed through the rest of the paper. He looked in the sports section to see the Quiddich standings, but the season was already over. Now it just mentioned the new recruits and mentioned when the teams were going to hold tryouts again. Harry put the paper down and went to see what Severus was up to.

He found him in the lab brewing. "Hey," Harry said as he entered the room, sitting in a chair that was behind Severus along the wall, "did you see what Hermione said about us in the paper?"

"I saw what an anonymous student said about us in the paper. How are you sure that it was Miss Granger?"

"It's the way she words things sometimes. It was her, I just know it."

Severus glanced over his shoulder to look at Harry, gave him a little grin and then turned back to what he was doing. Harry eyed him from head to toe, trying to figure out exactly what was so enticing. His slightly greasy, yet very shiny shoulder length black hair, his brood shoulders, his long slender arms, the strong but smooth hands, perfectly shaped waist, his long legs, and even though Harry couldn't see them at the moment, he couldn't help but picture those deep, black eyes that he could surely get completely lost in if given the chance. Harry then knew that it wasn't just one thing that enticed him, it was everything.

**Chapter 8**

**Cloud Gazing**

The next afternoon, after Harry had his lunch, he retreated to the library. When he looked up, he saw that the sky was full of white, fluffy clouds. He had an idea.

He went to get Severus.

"Would you join me in the library?" Harry asked as he leaned against the doorjamb to the lab.

"Sure, would you just give me a few minutes to add the last few ingredients? I'm almost done."

"Yeah, no problem. I'll be waiting."

Harry went back to the library, put a few pillows that he now kept in there for the many times he spent gazing at the sky, down on the floor and laid down. After about ten minutes, Severus came walking in.

"What was it you wanted to see me about?" Severus asked as he sat down in a chair near the entrance of the room.

"Well, I saw how beautiful the sky was today and wanted to know if you would join me in some cloud gazing."

"You want me to lie down and just look at the clouds with you?"

"Yeah, haven't you ever looked at the clouds and seen different shapes and animals and stuff like that?" Harry asked as he leaned up on one elbow to get a better look at the man.

"I don't believe I have. What is so special about it?"

"Just come down here and I'll show you."

Severus hesitated, then he got up and moved to the other side of Harry where there was a pillow waiting for him on the floor. He sat down, and laid back.

"See, isn't this just brilliant? "Harry said as he slowly inched just a little closer to Severus.

"I will admit it's a gorgeous sky Harry, but I don't see anything except clouds."

"You have to use your imagination Sev. Lets see." Harry said. Then he pointed to a cloud on the right side of the sky."Like that one over there, to me it looks like a bear."

"I have to be honest Harry, I don't see it."

Harry moved his body right nest to Severus', he couldn't have gotten any close while still laying on the floor. He took Severus' hand and pointed his finger to the bear cloud. "See that one, maybe if you turn your head a little."

Severus shifted his head a little to the right.

"Not that way, this way." Harry took his hand and gently moved Severus' head the right way. Harry had been longing to touch his face and almost didn't stop. But he thought better of it and quickly dropped his hand. "Do you see it?"

Severus studied the cloud that Harry pointed out for a moment. And then he saw what Harry was talking about. "I see it Harry, I actually see it. Wow, that's amazing. I didn't know this could be done by just looking at the clouds."

They gazed at the sky for a long while. Harry didn't move away from Severus, he wanted the contact, even if it was only their shoulders that were touching.

Harry pointed to the ceiling again. "That one looks like a cat."

"I've always liked cats." Severus said at Harry's last comment. "They are so mysterious and agile. Quite beautiful creatures when you look at them."

'Ok he likes cat's, but how is that going to help me?' Harry thought while they continued their gazing.

"Hey Sev?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"What kinds of stuff do you like to do?"

"I like to brew. Potions professor and all."

That answer wasn't going to help Harry, he already knew that. "I mean besides that. What do you like to do for fun?"

"I also like to read. There is nothing better than sitting in front of the fire with a glass of brandy and a good book."

Harry somewhat already knew that too. But he figured he would stop asking questions for now so Severus wouldn't be suspicious.

"Why do you ask Harry?"

"Just making conversation, you know."

Severus looked over at Harry and saw nothing but innocence behind his eyes. They just looked at each other for a long moment, as if staring into the others soul. Each searching for something unique and special in the other. They created a bond with one another that neither one of them would have ever expected. They didn't know what the future would bring, but looking into each other's eyes, they knew they would find out sooner or later.

Harry broke the gaze and looked back to the ceiling. Much longer and Harry wouldn't have been able to resist leaning over and kissing Severus right on the lips. Even though he wanted to kiss Sev he thought that this should not be the time. He still wasn't sure if the older man was even attracted to him in the least bit. He had a feeling that there was something there, he just wasn't completely sure how much of something it was.

Harry contemplated about what he might be able to surprise Severus with but he still needed more information (and wait for his birthday) to come up with the best way to render him speechless.

As they still lay there staring at the sky, Harry was so relaxed that he started to drift off to sleep. He tried his best to stay awake because he didn't know when he and Severus could or would be this close again, but his attempt failed and he fell into a peaceful sleep with Severus at his side.

**Chapter 9**

**Realization**

Severus lay next to Harry looking at the enchanted ceiling, when Harry suddenly rolled over and placed his head on Severus' shoulder. His first instinct was to tell Harry to get off of him, that he didn't think it would be a good idea to lie on the floor cuddling.

Severus then realized that Harry was fast asleep. Looking at his sweet face resting on his shoulder, he didn't have the heart to disturb him. As Severus lay there his eyes began to get heavy also. All he could hear was the deep, rhythmic breathing of Harry. And eventually he too fell asleep.

When Harry awoke, he realized that Severus was still lying next to him. He was now deep in slumber. One of Severus' arms was draped over Harry's torso while the other was under Harry's head, being its pillow.

Harry looked at Severus, never wanting his eyes to leave that beautiful face. He missed the feel of Severus lying next to him, holding him, making him feel safe and warm. Severus hadn't slept in Harry's bed since he had asked to stay alone that night a few weeks ago. Next time Severus slept in Harry's bed he wanted it to be special and intimate.

He studied every curve, every line, even the slightest feature Harry noted to memory.

'How could I have ever hated this man? He is the reason I live and breathe now. We were meant to be here, together, hopefully it will turn into forever.' Harry thought to himself still staring at the handsome older man.

Harry, not wanting to waist this moment gently laid his hand over Severus' chest, right where his heart is. He felt the beat under his hand, and hoped that this feeling would never end. If only they never had to leave this place.

Harry then closed his eyes and just listened to Severus' heart beating and his slow steady breathing. He stayed in that position for about another hour or so until Severus started to stir. He decided to pretend to be asleep so Severus wouldn't be angry at him for not waking him up.

Severus slowly opened his eyes and realized he was still lying on the library floor. Harry was still asleep on his shoulder, using his arm as a pillow.

He gently moved Harry's arm off his chest, lifted Harry's head and placed it on the pillow. He quietly got up and left the library, being none the wiser that Harry was listening to every move he made.

When Severus left the library, he went to one of the dens and got himself a small glass of brandy. He needed a drink after seeing Harry looking so innocent and pure. He literally had to peel himself away from the sleeping boy, if he only knew why he was feeling these things toward Harry.

Since they had that conversation the very first night they stayed here, he didn't want to confuse Harry any more than the poor thing already was. Besides, what would someone like Harry want with someone like him? He was twenty years older than Harry was. Only fools would want that for themselves. Then Severus realized that Harry didn't always think ahead. He lived more in the moment, which was one thing Severus has always admired.

Severus then heard a noise at the door, looked up and saw Harry looking at him with those wide, lovely green eyes.

"You don't just have to stand there, you can come in." Severus told Harry.

Harry walked into the room and took a seat across from Severus.

"Would you like some?" Severus asked while placing his hand on the brandy bottle.

"Why not, what better way to end such a perfect afternoon." Harry smiled at Severus and took his glass, making sure he touched the offering hand.

"Did you have a good nap?" Severus asked.

"Yeah, sorry about falling asleep like that, I was just so relaxed."

"You don't have to be sorry, I even dozed off myself. I never thought that just looking at the clouds could be so enjoyable. I should be thanking you."

"It was nothing really. It's just something that I knew I liked to and thought you might want to enjoy it with me."

"And that I did. Very much so." Severus raised his glass and took another sip of brandy.

They both sat there silently for a long while. Each just thinking about the afternoon they had together. Severus thought about how beautiful Harry looked while sleeping. Harry thought about how glorious Severus looked while sleeping as well. Little did they know how similar their thoughts were to the others.

Severus was giving in to Harry and he didn't know how to stop it. Not that he wanted it to. While spending all this time with Harry he realized that the boy had such a pure heart. He was brave and kind and Severus didn't think that he deserved the right to even be in his presence. And yet, here they were.

Severus now started to have feelings for Harry. It was more than companionship, although it wasn't not companionship. There was something more there that Severus didn't at first realize, it was love, and there was no denying it now.

'But why would Harry want anything romantic with me? I tortured him at Hogwarts all these years? Sure Harry knows now what my true intentions were, but that doesn't remove all the hurt and anguish I put him though.' Severus thought as he looked at Harry sitting there across from him sipping on his glass of brandy.

Severus decided that once Harry became of age he would let him know how he felt. He could not tell him before then, it would be too inappropriate. Severus would do everything he could for Harry until that time to make sure that he was completely happy. It would be his way of showing Harry that he could be the one to fill Harry's heart with love and joy. Little did he know that Harry was coming up with a plan himself to win over Severus as well.

**Chapter 10**

**Time is Running Out**

Harry tried to keep track of the days but without being able to go outside and be around people, they all just seemed to run together. One morning he looked at the calendar and realized that his birthday was less than a week away. He had to work out his surprise for Severus, and he had to do it soon.

He went to the library to look through some books again to see if he could get any idea of what to do for the older man. And once again Harry came up empty. Nothing in here could be used to woo his potions professor.

Severus Snape was a man of mystery. Harry decided that he would just have to come up with something and hope that it works. He sat down at one of the tables and let the wheels in his head turn. After a long while a light bulb game on. "I got it, I know what I'm going to do." Harry said and leaned back in his chair with a satisfied look on his face.

"Know what you're going to do about what?" Severus asked. He was standing in the doorway. "I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, I was just coming to let you know that lunch is ready if you want to join me."

"Oh, yeah. I guess I am a little hungry, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"You didn't answer my question Mr. Potter."

That was the first time since they had been here that Severus had used the smooth, silky voice that he used in the classroom. Harry never realized it but voice was enchanting. Harry blushed a little.

"Don't worry, it's nothing really, just trying to figure out a way to keep myself entertained, since I can't use magic until my birthday." 'I hope he bought it.' Harry though after he came up with his excuse.

"Alright," Severus said, "your birthday is coming up isn't it? In about a couple weeks or so?" Then he walked toward the door. "I'll see you in the kitchen."

'What?' Harry thought, 'how could he not remember when my birthday is?' At first Harry was offended and then once he really thought about it he figured that Severus just lost track of the time like he had. Harry didn't correct Severus, 'If he thinks my birthday isn't for another couple of weeks, he won't suspect me to do magic until then, he will never see my surprise coming. And what better night to surprise him than the night I become of age?' He thought trying to hide the smile that wanted to burst out of him.

Severus however knew exactly when Harry's birthday was and was planning to surprise him that very night as well.

Harry went down to the kitchen to join Severus for lunch.

As they sat there eating their sandwiches, Harry thought that this would be the best time to try and get a little more information out of Severus. "I was just wondering, what is your favorite color?" Harry asked before he took a bite of his sandwich.

"And why would you ask me that?" Severus gave Harry questioning look.

"I was just remembering when we were playing that game, remember? You asked me what my favorite color was, I told you, and so I figured it was only fair that I know yours too." Harry knew that Severus would tell him after that explanation.

"I like black, but since it is technically not considered a color, I will go with green, not just any green though, more of an emerald green." 'The same color of those gorgeous eyes.' Severus thought while looking into those eyes. He quickly turned his head as to not give his affections for the boy away. He wanted him to be completely surprised when he announced his love for Harry. He wanted it to be a moment that either one of them would ever forget for the rest of their lives.

Harry had at least gotten the color scheme of his surprise down. He would have to start planning exactly how he was going to go about it without Severus noticing.

After they ate lunch Severus headed to his potions lab, and Harry headed back to the library, each of them having to prepare for Harry's birthday.

**Chapter 11**

**Preparing**

As Severus went back to his lab, he frantically started working on the gifts he was going to give to Harry for his birthday.

He planned to make a serum that would heighten all of Harry's senses. His hearing, smell, sight, taste, feel, and touch. This particular potion would also give him a sense of complete clarity. With all of his senses at their peak, Harry would have a feeling of euphoria.

His second gift was going to be an enchanted set of quiddich robes that would always fit Harry perfectly. They would also repel wind, rain, and snow. The wind would go completely around him, the rain would just simply bounce off of him, and the snow would melt before even coming in contact with him. No matter what the weather, Harry would still be able to fly after the snitch without worrying about a thing.

Lastly, Severus was going to give Harry a memory from his childhood. Severus was very good friends with Lily, Harry's mother, when they were kids. The two of them had been like brother and sister when they were young, and he had many fond memories of Lily. Severus thought that this would be the gift that Harry would like most.

Severus started making a list of everything that he needed. He then went through and checked off everything that he already had. The rest he would have to get while he was out tomorrow doing another 'check in' with the Dark Lord.

He still needed to get a set of quiddich robes to enchant, preferably red and gold since those were Harry's favorite colors, and enchanted robes aren't illegal in the rules of the game, Severus checked before deciding to do this. He still needed some various potion ingredients, nothing too rare. The most uncommon ingredient was a dragon's tooth that needed to be boiled in with the euphoric serum. Lastly, he needed to get a pensive and some memory vials.

Meanwhile, Harry was also working on how to execute his plan, even though he was going to have to ask Severus to get him some things the next time he was out. Harry didn't' want to ask Severus to do this but there wasn't any other way to get the items he needed.

He had planned to give Severus a black clothe covered journal with his name on the cover in emerald green gems. He had learned how to bind a book his third year at Hogwarts. The journal was going to have a magical lock on it. The only way it would be able to be opened was if Severus would run his finger in a counter clockwise circle three times over the S in his name on the cover.

He was also going to make Severus dinner, nothing to elaborate though. Actually now that he thought about it, he only knew how to make that would be acceptable for dinner was meatloaf. He had never actually made it before but he had watched his Aunt Petunia make it at least once a week. And once you've seen something done that many times, it sticks out in your mind.

Finally, Harry was going to ask Severus to join him in the library and ask him to dance under the stars, then he was going to confess his love to the older, handsome man he had come to know.

Neither one of their plans was going to be easy to accomplish without the other finding out, but they could both be very resourceful when they needed to be.

**Chapter 12**

**Another Check in**

Severus had much to do today. Besides going to update the Dark Lord on his mission to find Harry, he also had to go get all of the supplies that he needed for Harry's birthday.

Severus didn't have time do go get Harry before he left so he sent his patronus to summon the young man. Severus' patronus had the form of a beautiful doe.

Harry had been in the library as usual, but when he received Severus' patronus message to meet him in the kitchen, Harry was downstairs sitting across from the man in less than a minute.

"You wanted to see me?" Harry asked after he sat down.

"Yes Harry, I have to go check in with the Dark Lord again, and there are some things I need to pick up on the way back, is there anything you need again.?

Harry had made a list of the things he needed the night before and handed it to Severus. Severus looked over the list. Harry had everything written down that he needed to make the dinner, and he had gems written on the list.

"Gems? What do you need gems for?"

"Well I know that I won't be able to see her anytime soon but I wanted to make Hermione a gift, I figured it would give me something to do until my birthday." Harry lied.

"Ok, I know it must be hard being stuck here like this, was there a particular type of gem you want?" Severus asked.

"Just get an assortment of colors, but make sure they are all kind of small." Harry couldn't let Severus know that the only color he needed was green, that would look suspicious. Harry let a little smirk cross his lips.

"And it also looks as it there is something specific you want to cook."

"Yeah, just something I saw my aunt make about a hundred times. Just thought I would give it a go."

Severus pocketed the list and gave one last look at Harry, wishing that he didn't have to leave. Every time Severus looked at Harry his heart skipped a beat, it left him absolutely breathless. Severus had to force himself, but he finally turned to go.

"Severus." Harry said before Severus could leave the room.

"Yes Harry?"

"Hurry back."

Severus gave Harry a reassuring look and then left the boy starring after him.

Harry looked at the space where Severus had just stood before he went. He didn't like the fact that Severus was going to meet Voldemort, even though Harry knew that this would be the only way Voldemort would never find him. He had faith that Severus would play his part of devoted 'Death Eater' well. Hell, he made Harry believe that Severus hated him all these years.

Harry went back to the library and just gazed at the ceiling. It was another beautiful sky, the same as the other day when he had fallen asleep next to the man he loved. Harry laid there and daydreamed of that day until he slipped away to a peaceful, afternoon nap.

In the meantime, Severus again went to the Dark Lord's hideout. Once again he knocked on his chamber doors, and was told to enter.

"My Lord." Severus said as he knelt down in front of the evil being.

"Severus, how is your search coming along?"

"I believe it is coming along well, my lord. I suspect that I have located the country that the boy is staying. Although it has been difficult to track him, whoever is hiding him is covering the trail very well, but I assure you I will find him. I never want to let you down master." Severus again bowed to Voldemort, hoping that he would except his answer for not already having Harry in hand.

"I see, and have you checked in on his little friends?"

"I have, I even wrote them a false letter from one Mr. Harry Potter, to see if they would reply to my owl with some information. But when they responded to my attempts, they just wanted to know if he was okay and where he was and such. I truly believe they have no idea where he is."

"Yes, well, I know you will come through for me in the end, but you know you must be punished don't you." Voldemort looked at Severus with those horrid red eyes.

"I know my lord, and I am thankful for your mercy."

Severus bent down to the Dark Lord again, and when he did, Voldemort raised his wand and once again cast a 'Crucio' at Severus.

This time Voldemort let the pain surge through Severus' body a little longer than last time. Once the pain stopped Severus again resumed his Kneeling position.

"I do however regret to inform you my lord, that I will not be able to come back and report my findings for some time. I believe that if I stay out there tracking the boy, without having to come back here, I will find him quicker and be able to bring him here to you."

"And how long is some time?" God, how Severus hated that voice,

"Six months at the longest my lord. Would that be acceptable to you?"

"Seeing as how you have been diligently working, I don't see why not.. I know you will find him Severus, because I know you fear me so."

Voldemort knew that none of his Death Eaters would do anything for him out of love or friendship. He knew that they feared him, and that's the way he liked things to be.

"Yes, my lord. I do apologize for not bringing better news." Severus turned and left before Voldemort could think about changing his mind about their next meeting.

Severus was happy that the Dark Lord granted his request, now he would be able to focus completely on Harry. He had only been gone a little over an hour and he already missed him so.

**Chapter 13**

**Shopping for Harry**

He went to the nearest town to get all of the things he needed for Harry's birthday.

First, he stopped by a high-end quiddich supply store to find the robes for Harry. As Severus browsed the store, he saw a few sets of robes that Harry would like but nothing he thought that was deserving of Harry. Then, just when Severus was about to leave and try a different store, he saw them. The perfect robes to get for his love. They were black and red with gold accents. Not just gold colored accents, actual gold accents.

Severus held the robes in his hands. The fabric was soft but strong and as light as air. Then Severus looked at the price tag, 2,500 galleons is what they cost. Severus realized that was how much he made in three months teaching at Hogwarts. But he knew that he would not be satisfied with anything else. Nothing was too good to get for Harry.

Then Severus noticed that the robes could be personalized for an extra 500 galleons. Severus figured he was already spending 2,500 galleons, what was a bit more.

Severus approached the counter with the robes in hand. He told the clerk that he wanted to take advantage of being able to personalize them. Severus then asked if he could have the items that he needed and just do the personalization himself. The clerk gave him a weary look but agreed. Severus ended up paying an extra 750 galleons instead of 500. He ended up buying two packages of the letters since Harry had some double letters in his name.

Severus couldn't just pay the clerk to do it for him because the whole wizarding world was still searching for Harry. How would it have looked if he had the name 'Potter' put on the back of the robes.

After Severus had left the store, shrunk the package with the robes, and put them in his pocket, he moved on to his next destination.

He went to 'Memories Forever' next. He looked at the pensives first. They had so much to choose from, but he decided on one that was elegant and he thought Harry would like very much. It had some beautiful scrollwork around the rim and it had a gorgeous black iron stand for the pensive to be perched upon.

Next, Severus looked at the memory vials. Once again he found himself not wanting to get just anything for Harry. He found a set of vials that were perfect to hold the precious memories of Lily. They were a white translucent vial with rubies around the top. The stopper of the vial was glass with a diamond on top for the handle. The diamonds on top of each of these vials were the biggest diamond Severus had ever seen.

He was once again shocked at how much these vials cost. But nothing was too good for Harry yet again and when Severus left the store he had spent an entire years salary in the past hour.

He then headed to the potions store to get the rest of what he needed for the serum he was making for Harry. That was a quick stop.

Severus then went to a store to get Harry the gems he requested. When he went into the store he grabbed a bag of gems that had every color imaginable, they were all different sized. He didn't want to disappoint Harry so he figured the biggest bag he could find would do.

Only one last stop, and that was to a grocer to get the items Harry wanted for his meal he wanted to make. While he was there he decided to grab a copy of the 'Prophet' as well.

Finally, Severus was done with his shopping. Now he could get home to Harry. 'How did I ever live without him?' Severus thought to himself as he rushed back as quickly as he could.

**Chapter 14**

**Home**

When he approached the door to where he and Harry where staying, he made sure that the shrunken packages could not be seen in his pocket, with the groceries in hand he walked in the house.

Harry was sitting at the kitchen table waiting when Severus entered. No sooner than he sat the bag of groceries down on the counter, Harry was crushing him with a hug around his waist.

"Harry, is everything alright? Are you okay?" Severus asked trying to get a better look at his face.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I've just been kind of lonely, I've missed you." Harry said as he backed away and blushed a little as he looked up at Severus.

"I missed you too, you just had me worried there for a moment."

Harry and Severus looked into each other's eyes. Each seeing something in the other's eyes that they had never seen before. After a few moments they each looked away, knowing what they hoped would happen, but not wanting their surprise to be ruined by their impatient feelings.

Severus broke the silence that hung in the air. "Here are the groceries you requested," he said gesturing to the bag on the counter, "and here are the gems you wanted." Severus handed the bag to Harry.

Harry studied the bag for a while, there was every color imaginable in there, loads of different sizes. Harry looked up at Severus with a smile on his face. Severus couldn't help but thing how beautiful Harry looked when wearing that smile.

"Thank you Severus. I hope you didn't spend too much on them. When I can get into Gringotts again, I'll pay you back."

"That is unnecessary. I was happy to get them for you."

If Severus only knew he just paid for his own gift. Harry felt bad but there was no other way to get the items he wanted.

"I'm gonna go and start working on that thing for Hermione, I'll see you later." And with one last look at Severus, Harry left to room.

Severus stood there, willing himself to not move. It took everything he had to not go to Harry and confess his love at that very moment. 'His birthday needs to hurry up and get here, I don't know how much longer I can stand not letting him know how I feel.' Severus thought to himself.

Severus then retreated to his potions room. He checked on the serum to see how it was coming, perfectly of course. He added the last couple of ingredients and let it brew.

He then took all of the packages out of his pocket and returned them to their normal size. He set the pensive up and stood back to admire its elegance for a moment before moving on.

Next, Severus laid the robes out on a vacant table and started working on the personalization. He opened the bags of letters and picked out the ones he needed. The letters were red, outlined in gold. They were magnificent. On the back of the robes, he placed the name 'Potter' in a slight arch between the shoulders of the robes. On the front, Severus placed the initials 'HJP' on the upper left half of the robes.

Severus then started working on the various spells and charms that would make the robes weather resistant. Then he charmed the robes to read Harry's body to fit perfectly.

"Those will look splendid on him." Severus said admiring his work as he pictured Harry riding around the quiddich field searching for the snitch, with the wind blowing through his already messy hair.

The next thing Severus had to do would most definitely be the hardest. He had to figure out which memories he would give Harry of Lily. He went through years of memories trying to pick the perfect one, when he came to the realization that one memory wouldn't be enough. He had so many fond memories of Lily that he couldn't just pick one.

The set of memory vials he had bought had a dozen vials in it. He would give Harry a progression of memories ranging from when Lily was a child up through her marriage to Harry's father, James.

Before Severus knew it he had eleven vials filled with the most wonderful memories. He didn't want to give Harry an incomplete set, so he sat and he thought what to fill the last vial with. After a while he knew, Severus would give Harry the memory of the moment he knew that he was in love with the younger man.

Meanwhile, Harry was away in the library working on his gift to Severus. He knew that once he could use magic that he could bind the journal with just a flick of his wand. What he had to do now was set the emerald green gems on the cover to form Severus' name.

'This might take a while.' Harry thought to himself as he dumped out the bag of tiny gems. After about an hour he had picked out every single green one in the bunch and got to work. Luckily, Severus had taught them how to make an adhesive in their very first year at Hogwarts. It only took a few simple ingredients and about fifteen minutes to brew, which Harry had done while Severus was away.

He got out his bottle of adhesive and placed some of the substance onto a piece of paper. Harry then took the gems one at a time and carefully covered the backs of the green gems with the adhesive. He carefully placed each one on the fabric that was to become the cover of the journal. He was so careful as to make sure none of the glue would leak from under the gem. He made sure that it looked flawless.

After two hours of carefully placing the sparkling gems in their place, Harry looked at the cover. It was perfect, the green gems stood out so well against the black canvas, it was beautiful.

Harry wished that his birthday would hurry up and get here already, not only so he could then make some use of his wand, but because he didn't know how long he could go without embracing Severus and never letting go.

**Chapter 14**

**Just One More Day**

'Tomorrow is the day, all I have to do is get through today without him expecting a thing.' Harry thought as he got out of bed and headed for the kitchen.

Severus was sitting at the table reading the paper he had bought when he was 'checking in.' He had been so busy with wanting to make everything perfect that he forgot to give it to Harry. Then again, Harry had spent all that evening in the library with the door locked. Severus knew that Harry had wanted to make something for his friend but he didn't know why it was so private.

As Severus sat there reading Harry walked over behind him and started reading the paper over the older man's shoulder.

Harry had one hand supporting his weight on the table and was leaning so close to Severus. This was Harry's was of getting closer to him. He just couldn't help himself.

Severus, on the other hand, was doing his best to not look over and kiss Harry, his heart began racing and the tiniest bit of sweat gathered at his temple. He hoped that Harry would move away soon, because if he didn't there would be no need to surprise Harry tomorrow, he would do it right this second.

After a few more minutes, Severus couldn't take it anymore, he laid the paper down on the table, stood up, brushed past Harry (Merlin that felt good), and left the kitchen.

Harry stood there stunned for a moment then decided to think nothing of it. He sat down and started from the beginning at reading the paper. He wasn't really reading it a moment ago anyway.

The story of how Harry and Severus were missing had died down, the only thing it said about them was 'Still Missing.' After flipping through the rest of the paper, Harry lost interest and set the paper down.

He went to see Severus to make sure everything was okay since he left the kitchen in such a hurry. Harry approached the potions lab and knocked on the door.

'Shit.' Severus thought as he hurried up and covered the pensive and the robes. Once he had Harry's gifts out of sight he straightened himself up.

"You may enter Harry." He said as he looked toward the door.

"Severus, I just wanted to see what you were up to. You left the kitchen awfully fast."

"Sorry about that, I just remembered that I had to check on this potion." Severus told him. It wasn't a complete lie, he did need to check on the serum, but that wasn't the real reason he left.

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong."

"Everything is fine, there is no need to worry. I just don't want this to get misbrewed cause I don't want to have to make it all over again." 'Not that I would have time to since your birthday is tomorrow.' Severus thought to himself.

"Yeah, what is it?" Harry asked while trying to peek into the cauldron.

"Just a little something I'm experimenting with. Nothing special, just a fever breaker."

"But don't we already have that? I mean, even Muggles have that." Harry asked.

"But this will take the fever down to whatever temperature the doctor spells it to, instantly."

"Oh, alright." Harry looked at Severus not wanting to leave but thinking that it would probably be best. "Well, I'm gonna go. When is lunch? I slept too long to have breakfast."

"I will make lunch within an hour. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's alright. Well, you know where I will be."

"That I do." Severus replied and Harry was out the door.

The rest of the day dragged on so slowly. Just the anticipation alone was enough to drive them mad. Harry stayed in the library most of the day pacing back and forth. He was so restless he didn't know what to do with himself. Eventually he laid on the floor to look at the sky. Usually that calmed him down but not this time, Harry would just toss and turn on the floor not able to get comfortable. Finally he realized that tonight was going to be a long one.

Severus wasn't in much a better state than Harry. He had also paced back and forth in his lab. He tried to sit and read a book but his heart just wasn't into it. He closed the book and sat it on the table. Severus tried to find a way to keep himself busy but his mind kept wondering back about the possibilities of tomorrow.

That night, both Severus and Harry lay in their own separate beds and thought about the other man that was just down the hall. After hours of each of them tossing and turning, they both finally got some sleep.

**Chapter 15**

**It's Finally Here**

Both Harry and Severus woke very early the next morning. It was finally Harry's birthday. Harry was now of age in the wizarding world and what a wonderful day it was.

Severus got out of bed, got dressed and went downstairs to make breakfast. When he arrived in the kitchen, Harry was already sitting at the table drinking a cup of tea.

"Good morning." Harry said as Severus froze in the doorway.

After a few moments of Harry staring at him, Severus finally said, "Good morning to you too Harry. I didn't know you were up. I was just coming to make us some breakfast. Have you already eaten?"

"No, just a spot of tea."

"Good," Severus said with a smile, "I'll get to it then."

Harry sat there and watched Severus work so elegantly around the kitchen, every move he made was a fluid motion. Harry couldn't help notice how graceful Severus was. It was so beautiful the way he glided from here to there.

Once breakfast was made and they were sitting across the table from one another, they would each let a small smile slip onto their faces. They tried to hide their happiness but it was impossible.

"And why are you so happy, Mr. Potter?"

'Why does he have to do that? It just drives me crazy, I don't know how I never found that voice sexy before, cause it really is. I Love You.' Harry thought before he answered, "No reason really, why can't I be happy on any given day?"

"Of course you can, I was just curious." Severus couldn't believe that it was nothing. 'Harry has to know that it is his birthday, why didn't he tell me?' Severus pondered that for a moment, it was hard to not tell Harry that he knew what day it was but he wanted the events of tonight to be a complete surprise.

"Hey, since you made breakfast, I got dinner tonight."

'I can't let him cook on his birthday. Today should be all about him. But I can't not let him cook, he would know something was up.' So, Severus just gave in on this one. "Okay, what are you making?"

"You'll see."

The way Harry said that wanted to make Severus go crazy. It sounded so sexy when it touched his ears. 'All I have to do is last through the day. I can wait a little while longer. And Harry is completely worth the wait.' Severus thought to himself trying not to blush.

"Okay Harry, I guess I will."

"So, what are you doing today?" Harry asked.

"I have to work on that potion, it is almost complete."

"How long will that take?"

"It should actually be done by dinner, but it will take up my entire day. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not." 'This is perfect, Severus will be working on that potion all day, which means I can use my magic to finish his journal, and I will most definitely need it to help me with dinner.' Harry chuckled at the last thought.

Severus cleaned up the dishes they had used for breakfast and then headed to the lab. He had to bottle the potion that had been brewing all week, then he had to make sure that the quiddich robes were perfectly pressed, and lastly, he wanted to make sure one more time that the memories of Lily were in chronological order.

It took quite some time to go through the memories again, but he didn't want to make the mistake of letting Harry experience them out of order.

Harry was up in the library as usual, he dug out his wand which felt good in his hand. He had missed it. He quickly bound the journal, and applied the cover. The next thing Harry had to do was charm the book to only open for Severus. He placed his wand over the 'S' in Severus and uttered the spell to only allow it to open when Severus rubbed his finger over it three times, counter clockwise.

He set up a record player that he had found on the table. He put a silencing spell on the room before he played the record he had chosen. It was a lovely melodic piece. Harry thought it had sounded very romantic. Once he had gotten the record right where he wanted, he froze it with a quick spell.

"There we are." He said. "Now, all I have to do is worry about dinner and get Sev to come up here with me afterward. Merlin, I hope he likes it."

After all of that was done he decided to go downstairs and start working on dinner. Tonight was going to be perfect.

**Chapter 16**

**Revealing the Truth**

Severus had exited his potions lab to the smell of something delightful. He headed toward the dining room, following the glorious scent. Harry stood there waiting for him.

The dinner was complete and it looked delicious. There was a large bowl of salad, a platter of mini meatloaves, and another bowl full of mashed potatoes. It looked absolutely wonderful.

The sight of the meal was nothing compared to the handsome young man that greeted him. He was wearing jeans that hugged his hips nicely, and a red button down dress shirt that was slightly formed fitting. Severus just stared at him. He was so beautiful.

"What do you think?" Harry asked as he lit a candelabra that sat in the middle of the table.

"It's absolutely breathtaking Harry. You never cease to amaze me."

Severus walked around the table and pulled Harry's chair out for him. Harry graciously sat down and waited for the other man to take his seat.

"I hope it taste okay, I've never actually made it before, saw it done loads of times though."

"I'm sure it will be delicious."

Severus filled up each of their salad bowls and gave one to Harry. He then reached for the platter of meatloaves and gave Harry one, then he got one for himself. Harry then gave them each a nice helping of the mashed potatoes.

"Harry, this looks absolutely wonderful."

"Thanks." Harry said. He could feel his cheeks glowing red as he gazed into Severus' eyes.

"Shall we?" Severus said as he gestured toward the food.

"We shall." Harry sat there and held his breath as Severus picked up his fork and broke a piece of the meatloaf off and gently put it in his mouth.

Severus slowly chewed as he tried to taste every ingredient on his tongue, it was very moist, it just melted in his mouth. There was a slight saltiness to it, but it had a lovely sweetness to it as well. It was perfect.

Harry just looked at Severus, still holding his breath, waiting for a response. When Severus noticed Harry looking at him that way, he spoke.

"Harry, It's delicious, I absolutely love it. You have outdone yourself."

Harry let out a breath of relief and smiled.

"I'm glad you like it."

"Although, I do feel that this meal is missing something."

"What did I do wrong, did I forget something?"

"No Harry that's not it." Without an explanation, Severus accio'd a bottle of wine and two wine glasses. "The perfect dinner should have a perfect wine to accompany it." Severus poured them both a glass and gave one to Harry.

"I didn't think about that." Harry said, but he looked at Severus with those big, beautiful green eyes.

"That's okay Harry, I was in my mid twenties before I realized the importance of a good wine."

They both sat there, eating dinner and sipping wine. Harry did have to admit it was a really good wine, and it complimented the meal really well. Severus was completely in awe over the dinner. It was absolutely fantastic.

When they were done eating, the bottle of wine was half gone and they just drank and looked at each other. Neither one of them said a single word, their gazes were saying it for them.

Finally, Severus stood up from the table and walked over to where Harry sat, and held out his hand for Harry to take it.

Harry's heart fluttered, his stomach was doing flips and flops, and he could hardly breath. He looked up into Severus' eyes and gently gave the older man his hand.

Severus guided Harry to his potions lab. He opened the door and led Harry to a chair and gestured him to sit.

Harry did and watched as Severus went to retrieve something, what Harry didn't know.

"I got you a gift Harry, Happy Birthday." Severus held out the quiddich robes for Harry to see.

"You remembered? I thought you forgot."

"Of course I didn't forget, it's a day that I could never forget because it's the day that the world got you."

Harry looked at the gift Severus was still holding, they were absolutely brilliant. They were better than what Harry would have ever picked out for himself.

"Sev, they're magnificent."

"That not all Harry, there's more."

Harry looked at him with wide, eager eyes.

Severus retrieved the potion he had made and handed the bottle to Harry.

"What's this?" Harry asked as he examined the containter.

"It is a serum that when taken will give you a feeling of ecstasy. It will heighten all of your senses, it will seem to make everything clear and bright. For the duration of the effects, nothing bad could possibly happen."

"Really? That's amazing."

"There is one last thing, will you come with me?" Severus again held out his hand and Harry took it. He led Harry over to where the pensive was and removed the cloth that was covering it.

"A pensive?"

"Yes."

"But I don't have any memories to put in it. What will I do with it?"

"This is a two part gift Harry, for I am giving you some of my memories."

"Really? Of what?"

"Harry, did you know that your mother, Lily and I were friends?" Severus asked looking at the handsome face before him.

"I had heard that, yeah."

"Well, I have many fond memories of your mother and I just thought that you would like to know what she was like."

The tears started swelling up in Harry's eyes. He had never even thought about asking Severus what his mother was like. He had heard that they were close at one time but it had never crossed his mind to ask about it.

"Harry," Severus lifted Harry's head up to gaze into his eyes, "this is the only gift I could give to you that no one else could. I hope you like it."

"I don't just like it, I love it. I couldn't have asked for a better gift. You have given me my mother, thank you."

Harry stood up and wrapped his arms around Severus, he never wanted to let go.

"Could I see some of the memories now?"

"They are yours Harry, you may see them whenever you want.." Severus then gestured to the set of vials that Harry hadn't noticed until now. "There are eleven memories here of Lily, I do hope you like the ones I have chosen."

Harry looked at the vials, they were gorgeous. "There are twelve vials here. What's in the last one?"

"We will get to that." Severus took the first memory vial and tipped it into the pensive.

Harry looked at the pensive and then looked at Severus. "Will you come with me?"

"If you want me to."

Harry nodded his head and took Severus' hand before leaning into the pensive to see the first memory.

It was a sunny day, off in the distance was a little girl with red hair swinging in the breeze. Suddenly a young boy with black hair ran over to where the little girl was. Severus and Harry followed.

"I'm guessing that you."

"You would be correct."

"And that's my mum?"

"Yes, Harry. That is your mother."

Severus and Harry watched as the two children played with one another. Actually Severus watched Harry more, seeing that look on his face made everything worthwhile.

Suddenly Harry and Severus were once again standing in the potions lab, still holding hands. Harry looked at Severus with tears running down his cheeks. Harry couldn't find the words to say what he was feeling, but he didn't have to, Severus could see it.

Harry and Severus spent the next couple of hours watching all the memories except for the last one. Harry had never stopped crying, and after watching the memory of his mother and father's wedding the tears fell even harder.

"Sev, I don't know how I could ever repay you for this. It's the best thing I could have ever gotten. Thank you."

"Seeing the look on your face is repayment enough."

"Can I know what the last memory is now?"

"Not yet, there is something I want to tell you Harry."

Harry didn't know what Severus was going to say but he wanted to let Severus know how he felt before he went any further.

"Wait, I have something I want to show you first. Will you accompany me to the library."

"Of course."

With the two still holding hands they walked down the long hallway to the library.

"Wait here." Harry said as he went inside. Harry dimmed the candles to a soft glow and turned on the record player with a flick of his wand. The smooth music began to play.

The library door opened again and Harry led Severus inside. The scene was breathtaking. The stars were shining bright as Harry pulled Severus to the middle of the room.

"I made something for you."

"You made. For me?"

Harry took the journal off of the table and handed it to Severus. He looked at the dark black cover, with the green gems that spelled his name.

"It's a journal, I thought you might like it, and you said your favorite color was emerald green."

"It's wonderful Harry. I love it."

Severus then tried to open the book and was denied access.

"I charmed it to only open for you, but you have to do this." Harry took Severus' hand and placed his fingers over the top of the 'S'. He then rubbed Severus' finger in a counter clockwise circle three times over the letter. The cover flew open to reveal what was inside.

Harry had written a short note on the inside front cover, it read:

Severus,

I am glad to have gotten to know you outside of Hogwarts. I don't know where I would be if it wasn't for you. Thank you for opening my eyes.

Love, Harry

Severus read the inscription a couple times and then turned his head to look at Harry. Harry was looking down at the floor, glancing up at Severus here and there.

"Thank you Harry. I love it even more now."

"There is one more thing I would like to ask you?"

"You can ask me anything?"

Harry flicked his want to slightly increase the volume of the music, took Severus' hand and asked, "Will you dance with me."

Severus was shocked that Harry wanted to dance. The only time he had ever seen Harry dance was at the ball that was held during the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and even then he had only danced to the opening number, and that was because he had to.

"I would be honored." And with that Severus took Harry's hand in his, gently placed Harry's hand on his shoulder, grabbed Harry's waist and pulled him closer.

The two men danced so fluidly together. It was pure magic. They were both quiet for a few moments and then Severus spoke. "You are quite a good dancer Mr. Potter. Had I known I might have asked you to dance."

Harry blushed but looked up to gaze in the black eyes of Severus. "Thanks. I have something I want to tell you." Harry's heart was already beating fast and he hoped he could find the courage he needed.

"Harry, there is something I want to tell you too. You go first."

"Well, you see, I, um…Remember when I asked you to let me stay alone that night?"

"I do."

"Well I told you that I had some thinking to do." Harry paused not knowing what to say next.

"Go on."

"Well, I was confused about some things. I guess you could say I was scared because I had never felt anything like it before." Harry started to bow his head toward the floor when Severus gently placed his hand under Harry's chin and raised it so their eyes met.

"Look at me Harry, say what it is you want to say. Don't be afraid."

Harry let out a deep breath and continued. "I don't know how it happened really, I just know that it did."

Harry took one final breath and just let it out.

"I love you Severus Snape. And I don't mean like a friend loves another. I mean I am head over heels in love with you. Please don't hate me, I just had to let you know how I felt."

"Harry, oh Harry."

'Oh no. Here it comes, he hates me.' Harry thought.

"I could never hate you. Because, I love you too."

Harry's eyes widened and for the second time tonight, they were filled with tears.

Severus continued, "Those gifts that I gave you tonight were not just for your birthday. They were a token of my affection. You have always had my heart Harry, I just didn't know it until recently. I didn't expect it to happen either and then one day, I realized, I could never live without you."

Harry and Severus stood there under the stars and held each other for a long moment.

"I want to show you that last memory now Harry. Please, come with me."

Harry and Severus walked back down to the potions lab, never taking their eyes off the other, once inside Severus took the last memory vial and poured it into the pensive.

They both bent in together and drifted into the memory.

They were in the library that they had just left moments ago. It was the day that Harry talked Severus into cloud gazing with him.

Harry lay asleep on the floor, using Severus' shoulder as a pillow. Severus was wide-awake, just looking at the sleeping man at his side.

As Harry watched the memory unfold he saw something in the memory Severus' eye that wasn't there a moment ago.

The sleeping Harry shifted slightly and Severus gently picked up Harry's head, slid his arm under it and laid it back down. He then shifted his body so that he was lying on his side. Severus then gently placed his arm around Harry and embraced him, then he placed a kiss on Harry's forehead. Severus laid there and gazed upon the face of the man he had just fallen in love with and drifted off to sleep himself.

Harry and Severus were once again floating back to the surface and landed with their feet solidly on the potion labs floor.

"Harry," Severus was the first to speak, "that was the day that I realized I was in love with you too. If I had only known you felt the same way, I might have told you sooner."

"I wouldn't have changed a thing. Tonight was perfect." Harry leaned his head on Severus' chest.

Severus wrapped his arms around Harry and said, "It could be more perfect, you still have that serum I made you."

With everything that happened, Harry had completely forgotten about it.

"I don't need that potion tonight, even that couldn't make me any happier than I am right now. You have given me clarity and ecstasy, just you. I'm sure that I will take it some time. I hope that we can take it together. But tonight is as good as it can get, nothing could make it better."

"Nothing?" Severus said, "I think I could think of one thing that would make it better."

Severus raised Harry's chin, looked into his eyes with such love and compassion, leaned down and gently kissed Harry's waiting lips.

**Chapter 17**

**Together**

Severus and Harry found themselves lying on the library floor, in each others arms, gazing at the stars.

"This is by far the best day of my life." Harry said as he looked into Severus' dark eyes.

"Mine too Harry, mine too."

With that Severus bent his head down slightly and let his lips meet Harry's.

It was a long passionate kiss, each man trying to gain control only to let the other have it.

The love that Severus felt for Harry was greater than anything that he had ever known before. He had had a few lovers before now but those were nothing compared to what he was feeling now.

Harry was feeling the same way. Even though he had never had any lovers before, he knew what love was. He didn't know what being in love felt like until now, but he knew what it was to love.

As they lay there kissing, each man had a powerful arousal. Much more of this and their passion would get the best of them. Harry was the one to deepen the kiss. He had a burning in his core, it was so powerful, so intoxication, he wanted Severus, and he wanted him now.

Harry sat up and looked at the beatuiful man in front of him, gave a slight smirk and started undoing the buttons on Severus' robes.

"Harry, we can't, you're not ready."

"But this is what I want, I want you in everyway possible, I love you so much."

Severus gave a sigh and said, "Harry, I know how you feel, this isn't easy for me either. I want you too, more than anything, and I love you too, more than life its self. But you're just not ready for something physical yet."

Severus looked at Harry with adoring eyes. He wanted to show Harry how he felt but he just couldn't, not yet.

"But," Harry started to retort then realized, "I'm not going to win this one am I?"

"I'm sorry Harry, but no, you're not."

"But you said that you wouldn't have sex with someone you weren't in love with, and now you are, so…?"

"I am in love with you, I just don't want to introduce sex into our relationship so early on because eventually that's all it will become, and I don't want that. It will happen, I promise you that. Just not yet. Okay?"

"Don't think that I'm giving up on this." Harry chuckled a little but didn't press the subjuct anymore.

"I know you won't. Gryffindors are so stubborn sometimes."

"Slytherins are too."

Harry and Severus were again in a deeply passionate kiss.

The next couple of days weren't much different. They found themselves kissing and cuddling everywhere. They did start sleeping in the same bed again, but nothing else. One man never went anywhere else in the house without the other. They were completely inseperable.

"I love you." Harry said one afternoon as he and Severus had just finished eating lunch.

"I love you too Harry." Severus stood up and put on his 'professor' face and glared down at Harry. "Now Mr. Potter, I do believe that there are some things we must now attend to know that you are of age."

"You know, I have to admit, I used to hate it when you would talk that way, but now, I find it really sexy." Harry was now circling the table, advancing on Severus with a hungry look in his gorgeous green eyes.

"Is that so?" Severus found amusement in the statement.

"Yes, that's so. Does that surprise you?"

"Not at all. You know, I don't think I would entirely mind hearing you call me professor again either."

"Well then, Professor, what is it that needs attending to."

"Oh Harry, don't do that right now, we need to work on your Oclumency and your defense training."

"I know," Harry said a little disappointed that their semi-role-playing conversation didn't make it very far, "so when do you want to start?"

"How about right now. No time like the present."

"Alright, I guess."

Severus gave Harry a slight not and they both went to one of the many spare bedrooms.

"I thought this would be a good room to practice in. Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Severus cast Legilems and started penatrating Harry's mind. "Don't forget to focus Harry, I will not take an easy on you, for your sake of survival I can't, now focus."

Harry tried as best he could, but failed. Soon Severus was seeing flashes of when Harry had lived with the Dursley's. Harry was beaten horribly, over and over again. It was a surprise that Harry was in as good of shape as he was having to deal with those reatched excuses for Muggles.

Severus pulled away in complete shock at what he had just seen. "Harry, I didn't know it was that aweful, I knew it was bad but…"Severus couldn't find words to describe what he was thinking.

Harry sat in his chair, slightly sweating from trying to block out Severus. "It's okay, the beating eventually stopped when I stopped crying. I actually think it pissed them off when I didn't cry."

"It's not okay what they did to you. If I could I would kill them right now with my bare hands, I would."

"They are not worth it. Just know that that is never going to happen again because I have you, I know you wouldn't allow it."

"Damn right I wouldn't."

"Sorry, I guess I should have told you a little more of the details when it came to the Dursley's. Ready to get back to it?"

"Are you sure you're up to it?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Harry tried to prepare himself again, waiting the probing to come. Severus muttered Ligilems and was in Harry's mind once again.

This time he saw Harry's first memory of arriving at Hogwarts, he was so exited and awe struck by the sight of the castle. It was so nice for Severus to see how happy he was at that moment.

Just before Severus was about to stop his roaming through Harry's mind he felt a push. Harry was pushing back, hard. And soon Severus felt Harry pushing hard enough to penetrate his mind, but before he went to far, Harry stopped pushing.

"Sorry." Harry said looking up at Severus.

"Don't be, that was really good. And you had the control to stop, I don't think I could have done that."

"Thanks, do you want to give it another go?"

"Just one more for today. Ready? Legilimens."

Severus was pushing with all his might but Harry met him with a force that blocked everything completely. Since Severus never got through this time there was no need for Harry to push back, just block it. They both concentrated on what they were each doing for a little while and eventually Severus stopped.

"Very good, I didn't get anything that time. Do you think you can always do that when you think someone is going to invaid your mind?"

"I think so. Wow, I didn't think I would catch on that quickly this time."

"Well Harry, I think the reason it worked so well is because your heart has found something special with you and I. And it tells your mind to hold on to it, not let anyone get to it. I have heard stories of people being able to block it out because they had fallen in love, but I didn't know how true the rumors were. Looks like us finding each other was a good thing for your magic. As you should know, love is the most powerful magic of all."

"I know, that's why I'm still here. If it wasn't for my mum…" Harry broke off thinking about the sacrifice she had made to save his life.

Severus bent down in front of Harry, lifted his chin, and looked into those big, beautiful eyes. "She knew in her heart that your life would be greater than her own. She knew that you would make her proud. She loved you too much to let that bastard get the best of you. Her magic was strong, and in that last moment I believe that she gave it to you, that's why you are so powerful Harry."

"I don't feel powerful."

"You are, when the time comes, you magic will blossom into something that even Dumbledore would have never had. And he was the most powerful wizard of our time, with the exception of you."

"But what if it doesn't happen by the time I have to face Voldemort, what if I lose and let the entire world down?"

"That won't happen, because you have love. Love from your mother, your friends, even from Serius, and you especially have love from me."

Severus leaned in and gently placed a kiss on Harry's lips, it was soft and delicate, perfect. Harry wrapped his arms around Severus' neck and clung to him, never wanting to let go, how he loved him so. Why he never saw it before now, he will never know.

"I love you." Harry whispered into Severus' ear during the embrace.

"I love you too Harry. We are now together, forever and always." Severus pulled Harry as close to him as he could.

**Chapter 18**

**New Magic**

Harry woke up snuggled next to Severus, how peaceful he looked when he slept, he didn't have a care in the world right now. It was absolutely beautiful, he was beautiful. Harry couldn't help the urge to gently move the hair that hung over Severus' face and place a kiss on his lips.

Severus kissed back and slowly began to stir.

"Mmm, morning."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, I just couldn't help it."

"I know what you mean, I love you."

"I love you too. I was going to get up and take a shower, want to join me?"

"I don't think that's a good idea, not yet anyways. I don't think I would be able to help myself."

"That's okay, I don't want you to help yourself." Harry gave Severus a sly smile and got up to head to the bathroom. "If you change your mind, you know where I will be."

Severus watched Harry leave the room, he sat there for a few minutes, telling himself it wasn't a good idea, but he wanted to be close to him always.

Harry turned on the water in the shower. He made it as hot as he could possibly stand it and got in. He let the water run over his body for a few minutes before he started washing. He stood under the water rinsing the soap from his hair when he felt a cold draft, once he was able to open his eyes he noticed that Severus was standing in front of him, completely naked. Harry couldn't help but stare, Severus' body was perfect, defined with just the right amount of muscle. He was thin, but not too much. And Harry could help but look down, who would have thought that the Potions Master of Hogwarts was so well endowed.

"You changed your mind I see."

"I just couldn't stand being away from you any longer." Severus moved close to Harry and pulled the young man's steaming, wet body close to his and kissed Harry's awaiting lips.

Their passion grew stronger with each passing second, along with their erections.

"I knew this was a bad idea." Severus said after he broke kiss. "The things you do to me. What am I going to do with you?"

"Anything you want."

"I will take advantage of that some other time. At least I know I still have some self control."

"You just said that you didn't want to have sex yet, right?"

"I didn't say I didn't want to, because I do. What I said was that I didn't think you were ready, and I didn't want our relationship to be based on sex."

"Does that mean we can't do other things?"

Severus thought for a minute and decided that a little bit of fooling around would be okay. "I guess that would not be entirely out of the question. But when I say its enough, you have to respect that, okay?"

"Okay." Harry kissed Severus again and then worked down to his neck, slowly liking and sucking his way down to Severus' chest. He started working on one of Severus' nipple, flicking it with his tounge before gently biting on the little, hard nub of flesh.

Severus let out a number of gasps and moans as Harry was exploring his torso. He had never felt this exilarated. It was amazing. Severus was a startled when Harry reached down and wrapped his hand around Severus' erect member.

"Oh Harry, that feels, so, good." Severus said between breathes. "I thought you had never done this before."

Harry never stopped stroking the man he loved. "I haven't, but I do know what I like, sort of, and I thought you would too."

"I do. Merlin this is…Wow." Severus was unable to put into words how this made him feel.

Severus felt the build want to just explode out of him, he couldn't take it anymore. Severus grabbed Harry's hand to stop the stroking. "We can't Harry."

"Why not, it's not sex."

"I know but this is one of the most intimate actions the body can perform with someone else. I wan't the first time it happens to be when we are making love, not like this. I want you to be satisfied too."

"Okay, I get what you mean." Harry wrapped his arm around Severus' neck and leaned his head on his chest.

'I wish we were lying in bed, holding each other, I can wait for the sex, but I never want to be without you. I love you so much Severus.' Harry thought to himself. He pictured them lying in bed, just being together and suddenly there was a swirl of mist, filling the area around them. They slowly lifted up, and before either of the men knew what was happening they were lying on their bed, still completely naked, in the same position that they were in while in the shower.

"What the…" Severus was shocked. "How did we get here?"

"I don't kn…." Harry paused, then continued. "I did it, I brought us in here. But how?"

"You did this?" Severus looked at Harry, completely in awe.

"I think so, I mean I was just holding you in the shower and I thought to myself how I would love to be lying in bed with you."

Severus sat in silence for a few moments thinking of how Harry could have possibly transported them from the shower into his bedroom, just when he thought that he was at a loss for words, something inside his head sparked.

"Harry, you did it!" Severus was so excited and Harry didn't know why.

"What? What did I do?" Harry was dumbfounded. He didn't do anything that he knew of, but how were they now here?

"You used wandless, wordless magic. Not many wizards can accomplish it without many decades of training. The only wizards who have accomplished it only lived for a couple more decades. Not that you will soon die after you can do wandless, wordless magic, its just to let you know how long it usually takes to achieve. Most witches and wizard don't even try to learn how to do it anymore because of how long it takes to hone the skill."

"So you mean I just stumbled across how to do it then?"

"Well, yeah. You are special Harry. I've always known that. But this I did not see coming. There was only one wizard who has been known to have this amazing power for most of his life."

Harry cut him off. "Don't tell me. Voldemort."

"No. It wasn't him. It was Nicolas Flammel. And that was only because he had the elixer of life. I don't have to tell you about that whole story, I'm sure you remember it."

"How could I not. Since the Sourcerers Stone had to be destroyed to make sure Voldemort didn't get his hands on it, Nicolas and his wife died."

"Yes they did. But they lived a very, very long life. They knew that it was worth them dying to make sure Voldemort would never have access to immortality."

"I know."

"Harry, we will continue working on your occlumency, but we will also work on seeing how well you can use this new magic you have acquired. We will have find out its limitations, how far your abilities can reach."

"This is a bit much, may I get a drink?"

"I'll get it for you my love. What would you like? A nice cup of tea perhaps?"

"I think I need something stronger, how about some brandy."

Severus gave a little chuckle. "Brandy it is."


	2. Sooner or Later

**Chapter 19**

**Sooner or Later**

Harry and Severus sat there each thinking to themselves, Severus was thinking about finding some books to do research on Harry's newfound ability, and Harry was still wondering how he could have the skill to be able to perform wandless, wordless magic.

After a while, Severus broke the silence, "Harry, love, are you ok?"

"I'm alright I guess. I just don't see how I've done it. I didn't mean to or anything."

"I know you didn't, its just all becomeing the wizard you were always meant to be. I am just glad that I am able to be a part of it all." Severus walked over and knelt beside the chair that Harry occupied, took his hands, and kissed them. "I am so proud of you Harry, you have taken in a lot of information, learned that you have remarkable magic inside of you, and you have started a relationship, even though sometimes I don't think I deserve it. You have done all of this in a fairly short amount of time, most wizards would have went mad by now. You are handling everything remarkably. I love you Harry James Potter, how I didn't see it sooner I will never know."

"I love you too Sev. Somehow I think I always have." Harry stood up and brought Severus up with him. "Lets go get something to eat, I'm starving. Then we could go into the library and stare at the clouds."

"I agree with you about getting some food, but I think we should actually see if you can control what you do with your wandless, wordless magic. Is that alright.?"

Harry looked at Severus, not really wanting to work on that at the moment, but knowing that it needed to be done. He was of age now and it would only be a matter of time before he had to face Voldemort. "Yeah, exactly what are we going to do?"

"I'm not quite sure, why don't you go down to the kitchen and start making us some lunch since we completely skipped breakfast, and I will try to find some books on the subject at hand, after a little bit of reading I should be able to find a way for you to be able to hone your skills."

Severus turned on his heel that made his robes billow in that scarry hogwarts professor sort of way (Harry loved the way he looked when he did that), and left the room. Less than two seconds later Severus was walking back in.

"Is there something you forgot?"

"Yes, something very important." Severus glided over to Harry, pulled him into his arms, and gave him a very passionate kiss. "That should hold us over for the next few minutes. Then he left the room again.

Harry went down to the kitchen to start making some sandwiches, by the time he was done Severus came into the kitchen carrying a small stack of books.

"Did you find everything you needed?" Harry asked Severus as he placed the sandwiches on the table.

"I had hoped to find more, but these should suffice. We can never be too prepared, i'll just skim these over during lunch and then after we will get started after."

"May I look at one of those?" Harry asked, Severus nodded and handed Harry the top book of the small stack. It had a deep purple cover with red lettering on the cover, 'The Secrets to Never Needing Your Wand'. As Harry thought about the title of the book, he wondered what he would ever do without his wand. It had become such an important part of his life. Using it was like breathing, it just came natural now, especially since he was of age and the Ministry was no longer tracking him.

They sat there in silence, each looking over various books and eating quietly, once Harry had realized that Severus was done eating, he cleared the dishes and spelled the dishes to be washed, dried and put away.

It was a rare occation when Harry felt like he was a student again, now that he and Severus had found each other, but when he did it was a breath of fresh air. Even though it should have been just the opposite, it was like there was no pressure, it almost felt like he was back at Hogwarts, when Dumbledore was headmaster and Voldemort could have never breached its charms and walls.

Harry looked at Severus sitting across the table studying intently, and was glad that he had him. He felt safe with Severus, even though they were here instead of at Hogwarts, he knew that Severus would never let anything happen without one hell of a fight.

After a short while, Severus looked up and saw Harry just gazing at him with those georgeous green eyes that he loved so much. "Yes, love?"

"I was just wondering when you were going to be done reading those books. Its been a while since I have given you a kiss." Harry walked around the table, sat down in Severus' lap and leaned in for a long passionate kiss. Harry figured that one of the best ways to practice his new found power was to try when he and Severus were in the thraws of passion, (or at least as much as Severus would allow at the moment.) Harry concentrated very hard, thinking that he wanted to be on the floor in the library, gazing at the sky.

After a moment, Harry slowly opened his eyes and realized that it worked. Once Severus noticed it, he said to Harry, "Looks like your getting used to this already."

"I just thought about being up here with you and here we are, and at least there is no discomfort like there is with apparating." Harry gave a little chuckle.

"Those books weren't helping much anyway, all they were giving me was information on Nicholas Flamel and how uncommon the skill is and such. We will just have to see what you can do."

"Well, I got us here didn't I?"

"That you did, but what about trying it on something that doesn't involve the two of us rolling around." Severus gave Harry another kiss, stood up, walked over to one of the tables and sat down.

"Why don't you start by summoning the books back up here from the kitchen table downstairs?"

Harry gave Severus a little nod and began concentrating. At first he just thought 'accio books,' but when he opened his eyes, Severus had his wand held up, freezing every book in the library from hitting Harry.

"I think you might need to be a bit more specific when thinking what you want to do." Severus started to guide all of the books back to their spot but Harry stopped him.

"Wait, let me try." And he concentrated again on the books going back to their proper spot. Slowly they started making their was back to the shelves. Once that was complete he then thought to himself about bringing the books back upstairs from the kitchen, he made sure to not think the word 'accio.' Then, all of a sudden, poof, the books were floating in front of him. He effortlessly guided the books back to their proper place and walked over to Severus.

"I am really impressed Harry, I think you are a natural."

"Maybe I will be a natural at other things too." Harry couldn't help that one, Severus opened the door.

"Like I have said before Harry, my love, we will see. I promise you that."

"I don't want to wait anymore, I love you, and I know I'm ready. It won't change the love that we have. Being able to make love to you would only make my feelings stronger, if that is even possible."

"Harry," Severus started to say something, but there wasn't much he could say. He thought that Harry was ready for them to be intimate, he just didn't want the sex to distract him from his training to defeat Voldemort.

Harry didn't even have to hear was Severus was thinking to know what was going through his head. "Just hear me out, OK?"

"Alright."

"Sev, lets just say we do things your way and wait until after everything with Voldemort is over with, what would you do if something went wrong and I didn't make it. What if I died while fighting him, because it is posible and you know it."

"That would never happen Harry, I wouldn't allow it."

"You can't stop him. He is more powerful than you, he may even be more powerful than me. I don't want to possibly live the rest of my life not knowing what it is like to be with the man I love."

Severus thought about what Harry had said and realized that he made some good points. "Will you give me some time to consider what you have said?"

"Yeah. I love you. I'll go into the bedroom and try and practice some while you think." At that Harry left the room and Severus sat there knowing that he would give into Harry sooner than later.


	3. Giving In

**Chapter 20**

**Giving In**

Severus knew that Harry was right. He didn't want to go on without knowing what it felt like to make love to Harry. He was having a hard time resisting the temptations now. At some point he would have to give in, and knowing that Harry would have to face Voldemort at some point, he figured that the more time he had with Harry on such a personal level, the better things would be.

Severus stood up from where he sat and made his way into the bedroom.

"Harry?" Severus' heart was beating so hard just knowing what was to come, he had never been in love on the previous times that he had sex. And besides that, it has been at least fifteen years since he had, at least.

"Yeah?"

"How is that practicing coming along?"

Harry was hoping that Severus would mention something else, and his face frowned a little as he answered. "Well, I am doing fine. Everytime I concentrate on doing something it has happened. I just need to see if I can do it while I'm distracted. I know that Voldemort isn't going to stand there while I concentrate on killing him."

"No, that he would not. We can work on that tomorrow, right now there is something else I want to do."

"Occlumency?"

Severus walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, "Will you please come over here and sit, there is something I want to try."

Harry walked over and sat down next to Severus, looked at him and noticed that he had a look in his eye that Harry hadn't seen before, but he couldn't tell what it was.

"Now Harry, I want you to close your eyes, don't open them until I tell you, ok?"

"Alright." Harry slowly closed his eyes and waited for Severus' instructions.

Severus frantically started waving his wand around, placing candles, changing the colors of the curtains and making the room into the most romantic atmosphere for him and Harry to spend this wonderful night. Once Severus was done, he walked back over to the bed and said, "Just remember Harry, whatever happens, keep your eyes closed until I say so."

Severus bent down and gently kissed Harry, slowly. Harry was a little shocked but quickly started kissing Severus back. When the kiss broke Harry couldn't help but ask, "Sev, what are you doing?"

"Don't worry about that, just keep your eyes closed and feel." Severus gave a little nip to Harry's ear and whispered, "I love you Harry James Potter. More than you'll know."

"I love you too." was all Harry could muster before Severus started to nibble and gently bite his neck. Harry started to softly moan at the sensual contact between him and Severus' roaming lips.

Severus slowly and gently pushed Harry down so that he was lying on his back. He climbed on top of him and started tasting every inch of exposed flesh there was to see, how he was going to contain himself from completely attacking Harry was definately going to be a feat.

After a few more minutes, Severus sat Harry up long enough to peel of his shirt, and then whispered in his ear, "Roll over, I want to show you something."

Harry obeyed and was lying flat on his stomach in the middle of the bed. Severus started at Harry's ear, working his way down his neck, to the well defined back of the gorgeous creature under him. He licked and kissed and nibbled his shoulders and shoulder blades. Harry softly moaned at just about every touch, but when Severus started on a particularly sensitive spot between the spine and ribs, Harry started to squirm.

"Oh Sev, that feels amaz...oh Sev, please."

"Are you enjoying yourself Harry?"

"Yes, but please. I can't take it. I need you."

At those words Severus couldn't wait any longer either. He rolled Harry over onto his back. "You can open your eyes now Harry, thank you for doing that."

"It wasn't easy."

"Harry, I have to tell you that this will hurt some, I just hope its not too painful." Severus wished that he didn't have to hurt Harry at all but there was just no avoiding it.

"It's ok. I'm sure it won't be too bad, besides, I know that you will take care of me."

"That I will."

Severus summoned some lube that he had made, just in case he couldn't resist. He plunged his fingers into the jar and scooped out a good amount and made sure his fingers were well coated. "Are you ready?"

"I have been for ages."

Severus positioned a finger over Harry's entrance and gently pushed in, Harry winced a bit and then gave Severus a look that said 'it's ok'. Severus leaned down and kissed Harry while he slowly worked his finger in and out, Harry started to moan at the feeling. That told Severus that it was alright to add another finger into Harry.

Harry whimpered slightly at the absence of the finger before Severus gently added the two. Harry gazed up into Severus' eyes seeing the love and care that he was putting into preparing Harry. Severus started to scissor his fingers inside Harry to properly stretch him for the larger object that would soon occupy the space.

Severus removed his fingers and Harry was left empty for a few moments, wanting more. Severus again dipped his fingers into the jar and removed some lube. He then covered his aching member with the substance, positioned himself at Harry's entrance, and looked into Harry's eyes, not wanting to miss the look on his face at their first time making love.

He slowly pused in, expecting to see a look of pain on his lovers face, but all he saw was love and ecstacy. Harry was also looking back at him, watching every expression cross that face above him. Harry couldn't help but think that Severus had never looked more beautiful.

Once Harry was adjusted to the feeling, Severus began thrusting slowly into the tight hotness that was Harry. He positioned himself just so that with every thrust he rubbed Harry's prostate. And every time he did, Harry gave out the most sexy moan that Severus has evey heard, and it took everything in him to not pound into Harry.

Harry's hands were perched on Severus' back, gently clawing at the flesh. "Sev, move faster, please, this is maddening."

Severus looked down at Harry and said, "I have to agree, Harry, you feel so good."

With that, Severus picked up the pace, making sure again that he would hit that special spot inside Harry that would drive him wild. He knew that he wouldn't be able to last much longer so he balanced himself with one arm while reaching down to stroke Harry's cock.

"Sev, I'm getting close. I want you to come with me." At those words Severus pumped harder into his lover, stroking him with the same speed and force. After a few short moments, the look on Harry's face was priceless, "Now Sev, oh." And Harry was coming with moans of Severus' name and Severus was moaning Harry's name. Neither man was unable to take their eyes off of each other during their moment of release.

Without another word or sound, Severus moved next to Harry, wrapped his arms around his young lover, and they both drifted off to sleep.


	4. The Morning After

**Chapter 21**

The next morning when Severus awoke, the first thing he saw was the face of the man he loved. Harry was already awake watching Severus as he slept.

"May I inquire what you're doing?" Severus tried to say in his most professor like voice, but it came out a bit too loving.

"I'm not doing anything. But, I would like to be doing something." Harry gave Severus a look and Severus knew exactly what Harry wanted to do.

"I don't suppose you are talking about working on your Occlumency or wandless, wordless magic."

"Nope, I had something in mind that might be a bit more fun."

"And what, pray tell, would that be?"

"Well, I could tell you, but I think that if you just close your eyes and let me show you, it would be better. You won't regret it, I promise."

"I'm sure I won't."

Harry and Severus were both lost in the sensation of being in love. Severus knew that there were many things that needed to be done but he didn't want to get out of bed just yet either.

Severus closed his eyes and waited for Harry to do or say whatever it was. After a few moments, Severus felt the sheets that were covering him slowly slide off. Considering that he and Harry had fallen asleep, completely in the nude, there were no clothes to delay Harry from what he was going to do next.

Harry took a moment to admire the man in front of him before moving on to what he had in mind. He slowly started to kiss and explore the body in front of him. Severus tried to move into every touch but Harry stopped him.

"Severus, just relax and feel. It's quite brilliant as you showed me last night."

Severus tried his best to relax but every touch was driving him wild. What Harry did next, just made it worse. He slowly started to move down Severus' body. Then Harry reached the Severus' erection. He started to lick and suck on the tip of Severus' member. And before Severus could react to what Harry was doing, he swallowed him whole. At that Severus squirmed.

"Oh Harry, I want you."

"You will have me again, but this is for you. I want you to feel the way you made me feel last night. This is my gift to you. Just let me do this for you."

Harry and Severus said no more. Harry continued sucking Severus, taking his length completely in his mouth. Severus was already feeling the effects of the sensation he was feeling and didn't know if he could hold out much longer.

"Harry, I'm getting close. You're going to have to stop."

Harry didn't want to stop. Harry wanted to taste Severus completely. He wanted to feel the warm liquid slide down his throat. He also wanted to see the look on Severus' face when he did it.

Harry used his new magic to hold Severus down on the bed so he wouldn't be able to stop him. Harry continued sucking, hard. After a few short moments Severus was moaning and he came. Harry's eyes never left Severus' face and as Harry thought, the look on Severus' face was priceless as he sat up and swallowed the salty fluid in his mouth.

"That was almost the sexiest thing I have ever seen."

"Almost?" Harry inquired.

"When we were making love last night and you came, that was by far the sexiest."

"I'm sure you will see that again. Soon I hope."

Severus gave Harry a little smile before getting out of bed, they had to do something besides stay in bed all day. Harry needed to practice his Occlumency and magic.

"Where are you going?"

"We," Severus said, "are going to go take a quick shower. After that we are going to get some work done. As much as I want to stay here in bed with you all day, there are things that need to be done."

"I know." Harry said.

Harry slid out of bed as well and followed Severus to the shower. They quickly washed, got dressed and headed downstairs for some much needed breakfast. While Severus was fixing some toast and eggs, Harry was working on his wandless, wordless magic. He would do things like slide the salt shaker across the table, balance a book on a single corner and the such.

After they ate breakfast Severus looked at Harry and said, "I think I have a way to see if you can do wandless, wordless magic while being distracted."

"Really? How?"

"I could just ask you random questions while you try to do something simple. Then we will move on to tougher things and so on."

"Ok, sounds good. When do you want to start?"

"Why don't you go to the library, I will go get a few things and meet you up there shortly."

Harry stood up, but before he left the room, he walked around the table, bent down and gave Severus a loving and passionate kiss. "I love you Sev."

"I love you too Harry."

Then Severus and Harry went their separate ways to get ready for the afternoon of work that was to come.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: To those who started reading this story ages ago I am sorry that it has taken me so long to update. I have had a sort of writers block considering this story. I have the idea of where I want it to go in my head but until now haven't quite been able to put it into words. But now I have figured it out. Thank you all for being patient with me, I hope you enjoy it.

Also, I still own nothing.

**Chapter 22**

Severus entered the library a few minutes later carrying a box. In it were items that could potentially distract Harry while he tried to use his wandless magic. Oddly enough they were mostly items from the Weasley's joke shop that Severus had confiscated from students the previous year.

"What's in the box Sev?" Harry asked a bit curious.

"You will see."

Harry quirked an eyebrow but voiced his curiosity no further.

"Okay," Severus started, "start by floating a book around the room. I will ask you random questions while you try not to lose your concentration."

"Alright." Harry said as he focused on a book from the shelf and started randomly moving it about the room.

At first Severus started asking simple questions like: When is your birthday?, What is your favorite color?, What is your favorite Quiddich team?, and who are your best friends?,

Harry was able to answer those questions easily without dropping the book.

Severus then started asking more difficult questions.

"How many times would one need to stir the wolfsbane potion throughout the process?"

This question caught Harry a little off guard. The other questions that Severus asked Harry could answer without even thinking. This one however took the concentration to remember the entire brewing process.

The book became unsteady for a moment but Harry quickly regained control. Then he answered, "42."

"Elaborate."

"18 clockwise after adding the wormwood, another 18 clockwise after ten minutes of simmering before adding the frog eyes, and finally 6 stirs counter-clockwise after the potion has come to a boil and the flame under the cauldron turned off."

"Very good." Severus said a bit impressed that the book only faltered for a moment.

"Now," Severus continued, "what is the potion that takes the longest to brew?"

Harry thought for a moment, this time never losing control of the still moving book. " That would be the unblindness potion." Harry almost stopped there but knew that Severus would want more of an explanation. "It takes the longest because each potion has to be brewed specifically for the individual, not to mention that the blind man or woman has to give a lot of their blood to make the potion work. And since so much is needed and you can only take so much blood at one time you would have to wait for their body to generate more. The shortest time the potion has been brewed in was at seven months, and fourteen days. The longest time that it took someone to brew the potion was two years, three months, and twenty-seven days."

"Well, I didn't expect you to elaborate that much but that was the correct answer. That is enough questions I think. Now I will throw mild hexes and jinxes at you. Try to block them without dropping that book."

"Okay." Harry said.

Severus threw multiple spells at him and only once did the book become shaky. That happened when Severus sent a tickling jinx at Harry and Harry was laughing uncontrollably. After about an hour or so did Severus stop and let Harry know that they were done for now.

"You have learned to control your magic very well."

"Thanks, it's getting easier and easier to do it. I don't think that I have to concentrate as hard. I just think of it and it happens, I don't even have to think about the spell needed anymore."

"That will definitely come in handy when the time comes to face the Dark Lord."

"Yeah. I hope that snake faced bastard gets what he deserves. I just wish that Dumbledore was still here to see it happen."

"I know." Severus said as his eyes filled with sadness. "But in a way, I think that Dumbledore will know anyways."

"You're probably right. He always did have a knack for knowing everything."

"That he did."

Just as Severus and Harry were about to head to the kitchen to get some lunch, Severus buckled over in pain, clutching his left arm.

"Severus, what's wrong."

"It's the dark lord, he's angry. I have to go."

"Is that really such a good idea if he's mad?"

"Harry," Severus said through gritted teeth from the pain, "I have to. If I don't he will suspect something."

Harry didn't want him to ever have to face that bastard again but he knew what Severus said was true.

Severus summoned his death eater robes and quickly threw them on. Just before he was about to walk out the door Harry stopped him.

"I love you, Sev. Just remember that. I'll be here waiting for you. Come back soon."

"I will Harry. I love you too."

And after a quick searing kiss, Severus was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Sorry the last chapter was so short, I just thought that was a good place to leave off at. Well here is another. I hope you enjoy.

**Chapter 23**

As soon as Severus had stepped passed the wards to his and Harry's hideaway he apparated to a place he had never been before, but he could tell that he hadn't apparated far. Panic set it but he didn't let it show. The Dark Lord was moving closer to where he and Harry were hiding out. Something had to be done to insure that he never found Harry.

"Ah, Severusss." Voldemort hissed. "It is so nice of you to join us."

"It is my pleasure my lord." Severus said as he bowed low to Voldemort.

"I know that I had told you that you would have more time to find the boy but I am getting impatient."

"My sincerest apologies my lord."

"Yesss, well, as it is this is the last time you will come back empty handed. You have one month to produce the boy or I will be most displeased. And you know what happens when I am not happy."

"I do my lord." Severus said bowing his head in the most submissive way he could as to not upset him any further.

"As to motivate you to find him I will give you a preview of what to expect if he is not here by that time."

"Thank you my lord." Severus said. As soon as those words left Severus' lips he was on the ground, his robes aflame.

After a minute or two Voldemort lifted the spell and Severus resumed his place before him, kneeling.

"One month Severus. Or what just happened will be nothing compared to what I will do."

"You are all powerful my lord."

"Yesss, I know." Voldemort hissed. "Now be gone with you and find him."

"I will my lord."

Severus then left. Once he was a safe distance away he apparated back to the house that he and Harry had been living.

Severus rushed into the house and started flicking his wand in all directions, things started to pack themselves away. Harry had heard that Severus was back and upon arriving in the kitchen (which was the room Severus was currently in) saw the frantic look on the older wizards face and various items flying everywhere.

"Sev, what's wrong?"

"We have to leave, NOW!" Severus exclaimed.

"Why, what happened." Harry was worried. He had never seen Severus like this.

"No time, have to pack."

Harry was staring at Severus following him room to room while he packed anything they would need.

"Slow down!" Harry shouted but Severus paid no attention to those words.

"Will you just stop and talk to me!" Harry yelled again. "SEVERUS SNAPE!"

At hearing his full name and the worry behind Harry's words he stopped and looked at the man he loved and would protect above all else.

"Tell me what is going on, please."

"The Dark Lord told me that I must hand you over in a months' time. If I do not then he will surely kill me."

"But that is in a month. Why are you packing now?"

"If we move around for the next month then when he starts to look for us maybe he won't be able to follow our trail. I will not lose you Harry. I can't. I wouldn't be able to bear it."

"Sev, you are never going to lose me."

"Not if I can help it." Was Severus' reply.

Harry then watched as Severus continues to fly through the house packing. He was frantically searching his brain for a way to solve this. To not have to be on the run for what would probably be the rest of his life. Then it hit him.

"Sev, stop packing. I have an idea."

Severus stopped what he was doing, which was gathering up potion ingredients and looked at Harry.

"If we have a month then I know the perfect plan."

Severus just looked at him, so Harry continued.

"We have a month, and that is how long it takes to brew polyjuice right?" without waiting for an answer harry pressed on. "We make the polyjuice, I will become you and you will become me. We go to Voldemort, he will be so focused on you as me that he would never expect for me to be you and then I can off that son of a bitch."

"Harry, I couldn't ask you to do such a thing."

"You are not asking me to. It is what I want to do. We need to be rid of him forever. The world needs to be rid of him. I am powerful enough now. I need to do this, but I can't do it alone, I need your help."

"Oh, Harry. I will do anything for you, you know that."

"I know. So unpack all of those ingredients and we can start brewing the polyjuice."

Severus spent one more moment just looking at Harry. Then all of a sudden it was like realization hit him and he started getting out all of the necessary ingredients to brew the potion.

Later that evening after a few hours in the lab of getting the base for the polyjuice started, Severus emerged into the sitting room and slumped down on the couch.

"The base is finished. Now we need to perfect our plan." Severus said with exhaustion evident in his voice.

"We have time for that, you need rest. It's been a long day." Harry said.

"I will be fine. I honestly don't think I can teach you much more about using your magic. But I will need to show you how to act in front of the Dark Lord. You will have to talk a certain way, bow a certain way, always make sure you compliment him and bend to his will. If you do not then he will know. The Death Eaters have been trained to do and say what he wants in his presence."

"Sev, I can do this."

"I have faith in you Harry."

"Thanks."

Severus started by selecting memories of the Death Eater meetings and placing them one by one in the pensive. This way Harry could see how Severus would act in front of Voldemort. Once the memories that Severus selected had been viewed and they emerged he asked Harry if he had any questions.

"You mean to tell me that that bastard even tortures you for doing what he wants? Why would anyone want to follow him. He's a sadistic arsehole."

"Yes he is, and most people continue to follow him out of fear."

"Nothing is worth going through all of that though."

"I wouldn't say 'nothing' Harry. I've done it for the sake of being spy, and for you of course."

"I know, let's get some rest and let me process what I've seen. Then we can start working on everything else tomorrow." Harry said hoping that Severus would listen to him and get some rest.

"Alright. Let's go to bed."

The two men went to their bedroom that they shared, stripped down to their boxers and climbed in bed. They wrapped themselves around each other, kissed each other with such passion and fell asleep.

N/A: That's it for this chapter. I hope you liked it. PLEASE REVIEW.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 24**

The next morning after Harry and Severus had breakfast, and after Severus checked on the Polyjuice potion, Severus starting training Harry on how to become a Death Eater.

"As soon as you are in the presence of the Dark Lord you must bow like this." Severus then knelt down on one knee and placed his left arm across his chest and bowed his head. "Now, let me see you do it."

Harry mimicked the action. "Like this?" He asked.

"Yes. Now remember to always go down on your right knee and cross your chest with your left arm. If you do it any differently then he will know."

"Down on right, cross with left. Got it."

"Good, now when speaking to him always add the words 'my lord' in there somewhere. I generally add them to the end of what I am saying since it is the last thing he hears so him punishments might not be as severe."

"Always call him my lord. Okay. So I make sure that I speak correctly and all why don't you act like him and I'll try to act like you. I'm sure we will need to practice many times before I will get it just right."

"Yes well, It took me many years to become the so called 'loyal follower' that I am. But with me by your side you will get it down in the one month that we have. I will train you night and day if I have to just to get it right. We cannot slip up in the slightest or we will surely die."

"No pressure or anything huh?" Harry said, half serious, half joking.

"I have faith in you Harry. You are the most powerful wizard I know."

"Thanks." Harry didn't know what else to say.

"Alright, you be me." Severus then grabbed a chair and placed it in the middle of the room. "He will have a throne of sorts and will be sitting when we arrive. When we get there, as you bow I want you to make me bow as well. Say something along the lines of 'show respect' or 'kneel before your lord', or something to that effect. You will have ahold of me with your right arm so that way you can still properly bow." Severus then conjured up a Harry size scarecrow looking thing for Harry to work with. "Use this in place of me for now."

Harry took the prop and held it with his right hand by the back of the neck, then kneeled in front of the chair where Severus was sitting.

"That's good. Now, you will have both of our wands and you will have to hand yours over to the Dark Lord. I just hope that he does not break it. Even though you do not need it anymore, I'm sure that you would like to keep it."

"Yeah, I would."

"We will keep our fingers crossed then." Severus then continued. "Once you hand over your wand you will still have mine, so when the battle starts, because I'm sure that there will be a battle, you can somehow get my wand to me so I won't be defenseless. After he has your wand, as I'm sure you already know, he will sort of gloat. The dark lord definitely likes to hear himself talk. During this time you can use your magic to freeze the Death Eaters where they stand. He will be paying so much attention to me as you that he won't even notice that they are incapacitated."

"Are you sure that I will be able to do that to all of them at once?" Harry asked a little worried that he would fail.

"I know that you are strong enough but you will have to practice." Severus assured him.

"Ok, then what?"

"From this point we will have to, as the muggle saying goes, 'play it by ear'. He may want to torture you a bit before trying to kill you. Unless you are sure that you can take him out then and there do not let him know that I am you and vice versa."

Harry took an audible gulp. "But I couldn't bear to watch him torture you."

"I will survive. Besides it is nothing that I'm sure I haven't endured before. When the time is right, and only you will know when that is can you make your move to defeat him."

"Am I going to have to kill him?" Harry asked. "I don't think I could use the killing curse, even if it would be on him."

"That is up to you. Killing him would end it once and for all, but if you can think of another way that wouldn't tarnish your soul like the killing curse does then by all means, do that."

"I will definitely have to think about that one." Harry said.

"Okay," Severus started, "I will be the dark lord, and you are you being me. I will try to say the things that the dark lord would say and you try to respond best you can." Severus gave Harry a moment to take his position. "Ready?"

"Ready." Harry stated.

Harry then walked in front of Severus carrying the scarecrow thing and knelt down. He spat at the scarecrow to 'kneel and show respect for your lord'.

"Severus, I see that you have found him." Severus said while trying to do his best Voldemort impression.

"I have." Harry said, and after a moment realized that he needed to add 'my lord'. So he did. "my lord." Harry then reached into his robes and pulled out his wand to hand it over to Severus. "Here is his wand my lord, do with it what you will."

"Thank you Severus." Severus said. "I am glad that you have come through. I was starting to think you would not find him."

Harry didn't know what to say and he looked up at Severus questioningly.

"At this point say something such as 'I could not fail you my lord' or 'I only aim to please you my lord'."

Harry continued where they left off. "I only aim to please you my lord."

"And it is a good thing you do." After a pause Severus then spoke as himself and not Voldemort.

"Now, it will be at this time that he will want to toy with you, start torturing you. He will try to use curses like the crusciatis, he may even try to use the imperius curse. If this happens, let him until you can strike."

"Okay." Harry said, hoping that he could take him down before that happened.

"That is enough for now. After we have some tea and a bite to eat we can start working on seeing if you can freeze multiple things at once."

"Alright."

The two men went to the kitchen, Severus made the tea while Harry made some sandwiches. They ate in almost complete silence as each of them were thinking about the plan. Each trying to see if there was anywhere that they could make improvements, but so far it was the best thing they could think of.

Severus went to check on the potion once more then met Harry in the library.

"Are you ready?"

"I think so but don't I need to know the spell to freeze something?" Harry asked.

"I do not believe so. It seems that you have been able to do things just by thinking it. But the spell for freeze is 'glacius'. But I'm sure that you could just think 'freeze Death Eaters' and it would happen. We will start small. I will toss something up in the air and you make it freeze where it is at."

"Okay."

Severus then transfigured a piece of parchment into a ball and threw it into the air. Without much effort, the ball stopped before it reached its peak.

Severus then transfigured another ball and threw them both. They froze.

By the time they were done with this there were fourteen balls in the air.

"Well done Harry. Now let's try it with something alive." He then transformed all of the balls into crows. They all started flying about the room.

Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on freezing all of the birds. After about a minute he was able to accomplish his goal.

"I did it!" Harry exclaimed.

"That you did. You will have no trouble immobilizing all of the Death Eaters."

"I hope not."

The two wizards practiced for a while longer before quitting for the day. They ate dinner and went up to bed. They were both quite tired and wanted nothing more than to be in each other's arms.

When they awoke the next morning it was back to business as usual. Practicing and planning throughout the whole day with the exception of when Severus went to check on the potion.

The next couple of weeks were much of the same, but now it was time to add a few ingredients to the potion. Severus spent most of this day in the lab while Harry practiced his magic. In a little over a week the potion would be ready and they would follow through with their plan to take down Voldemort.

Harry was getting more nervous as the days passed on. Some days it seemed as if time stood still and the day would never come, others would be over before they knew it. But the two wizards knew that they had to do this. It was too late to turn back now.

"The potion will be ready in the morning." Severus informed Harry the night before his deadline was up.

Harry gave him a weary look. He needed some reassurance.

"You are ready. There is not much else I can teach you. Just know that no matter what happens, I love you Harry."

"I love you too Sev." Harry replied.

That night, Harry and Severus made love more deeply and passionately than they ever had. Neither man wanted this night to end. It took them quite a while to fall asleep. Even though Severus didn't show it he was just as nervous as Harry.

Neither man knew what tomorrow would bring, hoping that everything would go off without a hitch. As they lay there in the darkness, embraced by the other they succumbed to sleep.

A/N: Thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. PLEASE REVIEW.


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks to all of those who have read this story so far. I hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

**Chapter 25**

Today was the day. Hopefully by the end of the day Harry would have ended the war with Voldemort and the wizarding world would once again be able to thrive. Evil would have once again been thwarted, and hopefully this time once and for all.

Severus and Harry woke up. They tried to eat some breakfast but ended up just picking at their food. Neither man had much of an appetite, they were both extremely nervous.

Harry went to the library to get in some last minute practice on, well, everything. When Severus entered the room he was carrying two cups filled with that muddy substance that Harry remembered all too well from his second year at Hogwarts.

Severus set the cups down on the table and gave Harry a look that said 'It's Time'.

Harry took a deep breath, and then let out a sigh.

"Harry, you are ready. Just know that no matter what happens today, I love you. You are the one thing in my life that I have been waiting for. The world isn't cruel enough to let us find each other and then take it away. We will be victorious. You will be victorious. Just remember everything that I have taught you." Severus then pulled Harry to him and gave him one last kiss before putting a lock of each of their hair into the potion.

They raised the cups and with one final look at Severus, Harry said, "Bottom's up." and downed his potion in one big gulp. Severus then followed suit.

Each man then transformed into the other. Since the effects of the potion only lasted an hour, time was of the essence. Severus then waved his wand and Harry was wearing the 'Death Eater' Robes and Severus was in Harry's simple clothes of jeans and a t-shirt. Severus then pointed his wand at various places to make it look like Harry's clothes had been ripped and torn, and to make it look like Harry had fought to not be captured. The last and final touch was a busted lip and a gash above his right eye.

"Let's go." Severus said.

The two wizards walked out the door and Severus apparated them just outside the house that Voldemort resided in.

"Here is my wand. Just make sure you give him your wand and not mine."

"I know what to do." Harry then took one final deep breath and grabbed Severus by the back of the shirt and started to drag him into the manor.

They passed many Death Eaters on their way through the halls, and one by one the Death Eaters followed, knowing that this was one meeting they did not want to miss. When they arrived in the room that Voldemort was in it was just as Severus had said, there he was sitting on a throne. At the sight of Severus dragging Harry into the room, the Dark Lord sat up and waited for Severus to approach with the boy.

Harry then bowed and forced Severus to bow with him while saying, "Show respect and bow before your lord."

"Severusss, I see that you have brought him. I was beginning to think that you would not come through, but here you are with the one and only Harry Potter." Voldemort hissed.

"I only aim to please you my lord." Harry said.

"I know, for it would be unwise to defy me."

"Yes my lord," Harry said. He then reached inside his robes and pulled out his wand to hand over. "Here is his wand. Do with it as you wish my lord."

"Why Severus, how nice of you." Voldemort then stood up and started circling the spot where Severus and Harry were. "Severus, you may stand so that I can see the boy properly."

Harry then walked over to the side while Voldemort started his 'speech' that was most likely prepared some time ago.

"Harry Potter," Voldemort started, "How I have waited for this moment. It was ultimately inevitable. I knew that one day you would cower before me, ready to face your fate."

As Voldemort continued his rant, Harry focused on freezing the Death Eaters. As Severus had said, Voldemort noticed nothing. As Harry looked around they were all frozen stiff, unable to move.

"As you have caused me so many problems I think that I will have some fun with you before you die." Voldemort then raised his wand and casually said "Crucio."

Severus' body contorted as he writhed in pain and agony. Harry wanted nothing more than to stop Voldemort from torturing Severus, but he knew that he could not act, not yet.

A few moments later Voldemort ended the curse. Severus lay panting on the ground, trying to catch his breath. Once again the Dark Lord started circling him.

"Did you like that Harry?" Voldemort said, "For that is only the start of what I have planned for you. But don't worry, you will be dead before the day is out. I think that I will deliver your body to the ministry myself, show the world that the great Harry Potter was no match for me. And once that happens everyone will bow before me and I will rule over the world. Muggles will become slaves to me and all of those that follow me. I will overthrow the ministry and everyone will live by my laws. Today is a glorious day Harry. Today is the day that the world we know, will be no more."

Harry listened to everything that Voldemort had said, and it sickened him to think about what would happen to the world if Voldemort won this war. But Harry had become more powerful than he would have ever imagined and he knew that Voldemort would lose.

Harry could take it no longer, he knew that the Dark Lord was going to torture Severus even more and he couldn't see the man he loved in pain. He knew what he had to do.

Voldemort started to raise his wand to cast another curse when Harry spoke up. "Enough."

"Severus, what is the meaning of this?" Voldemort hissed. "You have brought him to me and now you say enough? I don't think so. Crucio." This time the spell was aimed at Harry, but he easily blocked it and sent the spell hurdling back toward Voldemort.

As Voldemort moved out of the way Harry tossed Severus his wand.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Severus said, "It's too soon."

"Harry?" Voldemort barked looking at who he thought was Severus.

Before anything could be explained Harry aimed his gaze at Voldemort and thought to himself 'Trap with no escape, Trap with no escape'. Over and over again he said these words in his head and suddenly Voldemort's wand was ripped from his fingers and flung across the room, and Voldemort was encased in a glass box.

Harry picked up Voldemorts wand and approached the box. At this point Voldemort noticed that his Death Eaters were doing nothing and at a closer look noticed that they were indeed frozen. Harry then held the wand up in front of Voldemort and snapped it into. Voldemort gasped as he could feel that some of his magic was drained with the breaking of his wand.

"You will pay for this Harry Potter, I came back once, I will come back again."

"I don't think so." Harry stated. By now Severus was standing at his side. Harry then changed him and Severus back into themselves and watched as Voldemort realized that Severus was a traitor.

Harry had thought long and hard about how he was going to defeat Voldemort and it suddenly just hit him. Death was too good for him.

"I am not going to kill you." Harry stated. "But from here on out you are a squib." Harry then focused his magic and drained Voldemort of any and all magic in him. Severus could do nothing but watch as the Dark Lord was reduced to nothing.

"I still have followers you know. They will figure out a way to give back what you have taken."

"You are delusional Voldemort. I am going to put a curse on you so if anyone ever tries to help you do just that then their magic will no longer exist as well. And you will not be able to warn them about it either since you will from now on be mute." As Harry said all of these things his magic was making then happen instantaneously. "You will no longer be able to write since you have now lost all mobility in your hands. And lastly, I think that you will have a permanent fixture in the ministry, confined to your box. You are going to be a perfect example to all who will go against me. Everyone will be able to see you as the pathetic piece of shite that you really are until the time that you die of old age."

Voldemorts eyes were wide with horror. He tried to speak but no sound came out. Harry summoned the aurors and within seconds they were there. All of the Death Eaters, save for Severus, was taken into custody and sent to Azkaban without trial. The war was over, Voldemort may not have been dead but he was defeated. The wizarding world would once again be safe from the likes of him and his followers.

**I hope you liked this chapter. Please Review.**


End file.
